Food choices under cognitive load and time pressure

Last registered on May 13, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Food choices under cognitive load and time pressure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013411
Initial registration date
May 04, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 13, 2024, 12:04 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Texas A&M University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Trento
PI Affiliation
Texas A&M University
PI Affiliation
University of Trento

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-04-05
End date
2024-05-10
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study assesses how people's food choices differ under cognitive load, time pressure, and different type of information (subjective vs objective). We provide either objective (nutrition facts) or subjective information (future weight-gain and weight-loss pictures) when subjects are making food choices. Subjects go through 12 food choices rounds; in each round they are asked to choose between a normal product and its diet version.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cerroni, Simone et al. 2024. "Food choices under cognitive load and time pressure." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13411-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-08
Intervention End Date
2024-05-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Food choice (regular vs diet version), measured under different conditions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a 3 x 2 between-subject design where we vary the type of information (subjective vs objective) and introduce either a cognitive load or a time pressure condition (against a control). Subjects are randomly assigned to one of the following treatments:

Treatment 1: food choice with nutritional tables
Treatment 2: food choice with episodic future thinking (picture of potential future weight loss and weight-gain)
Treatment 3: food choice with nutritional tables and memorization task
Treatment 4: food choice with nutritional tables and time pressure
Treatment 5: food choice with episodic future thinking and memorization task
Treatment 6: food choice with episodic future thinking and time pressure

Subjects go through 12 food choice rounds where in each they have to choose between a regular product and its diet version. In addition, electrodermal activity is measured during the experiment to record participants' emotional arousal levels when making the decisions.

Memorization task involves asking participants to memorize a 7 digit number and then report it after making a food choice task. This is done to induce cognitive load for the main task (food choice).

Time pressure task involves participants having to make each of 12 food choices within a limit of 10 seconds.

At the end of the study, participants are asked to answer a short socio-demographic questionnaire.

Subjects receive 7 euros for participation. At the end, participants in Treatments 3, 4, 5, and 6 also have a possibility to win extra 3 euros if they either make a randomly extracted choice within the time limit (time pressure treatments) or recall the number correctly (cognitive load treatments).

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomly assign participants to sessions according to their availability. After participants arrive the lab, we randomly assign seats by letting them draw a numbered ball from a box.
Randomization Unit
Group of subjects at the session level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
27 * 6 = 162 observations
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
A minimum of 27 subjects per each of the between-subjects treatments (6 treatments)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
a power analysis was performed in G*power 3.1., where we used a priori analysis for an ANOVA test with 6 groups (α=0.05, power=80%) and a moderate effect size d=0.25 (defined by Cohen (2013)). The power analysis showed that a total of 158 participants should be sufficient (27 participants per group, rounded up from 26.3). Our target is 240 (40 per group) participants in case of invalid datapoints.
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
COMITATO ETICO PER LA RICERCA, UNIVERSITY OF TRENTO
IRB Approval Date
2024-04-04
IRB Approval Number
2024-30 ESA

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials