Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1998. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 122 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-117).

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Behavior analysts refer to a decrease in response rate following repeated, contingent presentations of a reinforcing stimulus as a product of satiation. Other evidence suggests that these decreases may often be due to habituation to the sensory properties of the reinforcing stimulus. The investigation reported here sought to determine whether decreases in operant responding by 3 adults with developmental disabilities were due to satiation or habituation. During baseline, participants placed poker chips into a container, and no reinforcement was available. Within subsequent phases, participants received diet lemon-lime soda on a fixed-ratio (FR) schedule of reinforcement. In one condition, the color of the soda was constant throughout the session, and in another condition food coloring was added several minutes into the session. Results for at least 2 participants indicated that: (a) soda functioned as a reinforcer for placing poker chips in the can; (b) response rates decreased within the session to baseline levels; and (c) response rates increased following a change in the color of the soda within the session. Results for the third participant were less clear. The results support the argument made by other researchers that the terms habituation (a weakening of a behavior following contact with the reinforcing stimulus) and stimulus specificity (a strengthening of a behavior following a change in the reinforcing stimulus) may be more appropriate descriptors of within-session changes in responding. The factors associated with habituation and satiation, as well as both basic and applied research examples, are discussed.

The effects of a simulated in vitro digestion model on the viscosity of solutions comprised of high methoxyl, low methoxyl, and low methoxyl amidated pectins were examined in conjunction with a human satiety study with healthy men (n=10) and women (n=15). Participants attended 8 morning sessions with a washout period of one week after a 12 h overnight fast. Self reported measurements were taken for the satiety parameters of hunger, fullness, satisfaction and prospective food intake using 100 mm VAS scales at predetermined time intervals over the course of 3 h. Orange juice solutions of each type of fibre were formulated to be either low viscosity (LV, 0.039±0.007 Pa•s) or high viscosity (HV, 0.14±0.035 Pa•s). The apparent viscosities of an in vitro digestion model simulating the gastric and duodenal phases in the presence of hydrolytic enzymes and bile salts were reported at 10 s-1 and 50 s-1. All pectin types showed varying apparent viscosities during the gastric phases, but showed considerable reductions in viscosity after the final phase. The low-methoxyl low and high viscosity pectin beverages were associated with the greatest effect on human subjective ratings of satiety, and high methoxyl low and high viscosity pectin beverages inconsistently exerting effects on satiety. Thus, some types of pectin are able to increase perception of satiety in humans. However, there was not a strong correlation between apparent viscosity of in vitro digestive fluids and total mean AUC for satiety related questions. Thus, fiber-induced satiety cannot be explained in full by digestate viscosity alone. / NSERC

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The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Dieters would have less variation between their pre and post prandial ratings than Non-dieters. We compared 159 female college students’ hunger and satiety ratings before and after their consumption of a 420 calorie portion of Entemann’s Butter French Crumb Cake and a 9oz cup of water. Dieter status was assigned by questionnaire responses to Lowes’ Diet and Weight History Questionnaire (Lowe, Kissileff, 2005) yielding 96 Dieters and 63 Non-dieters. Methods: The primary assumption was that of our 159 participants, the 96 Dieters, because of their lack of familiarity in using hunger and satiation as a behavioral strategy to initiate or stop eating, would demonstrate less of a difference between their fasted and fed ratings than the 63 Non-dieters. We studied whether the participants’ BMI was a factor associated with their hunger and satiety ratings and whether their ‘restraint’ level was correlated with their status as a Dieter or Non-dieter and BMI by group and the number of times participants lost weight [a component of the Early Family Eating Behavior construct. Analyses by diet group status, Restraint level and BMI were performed for the difference in hunger to fullness ratings, Race, SES, Early Family Eating Behavior and for Taste, both Prop {bitter taste} sweet taste and the sweetness of coke. Two constructs, one focused on hunger utilization and one focused on Compensation assessed the 159 participants’ implementation of these concepts. Results: Contrary to expectation, all 159 female college participants rated their fed scores higher than their fasted scores on the Visual Analogue Scale [VAS] question that asked “How Physically Full Do You Feel”. This yielded a significant result with a t of -12.0558 and a p-value of 0.000. We found that there were no significant hunger and fullness rating differences between the Dieters and Non-dieters in this study. BMI varied by group [t of 5.2467 and a p of 0.000] with a [mean of 26.72343 ± .605001] for the 96 dieters compared with a [mean BMI of 22.8090 ±.437262] for the 63 Non-dieters and this was a significant finding. The Dieters’ Restraint scores were higher [mean of 11.14583 ±- .4125177] than the Non-dieters Restraint scores [mean of 6.047619 ± .5016249] and this was a significant finding [t of 7.8499 and a p-value of 0.000]. This finding illustrated the Dieters’ engagement in ‘Restrained Diet Behavior’ and was statistically significant. There were significant differences between the Dieters and Non-dieters in their Early Family Eating Behavior Construct scores (with a mean of 3.052083 ± 1.45363 for the Dieters) and for the Non-dieters, a mean of (1.555556 ± .9466031) and a [t of 7.8619 and a p-value of 0.0000] for the differences between the two groups. A Multiple Regression with Compensation as the dependent variable and Restraint, BMI and group as the independent variables was a significant finding for the use of compensation behaviors as measured by the compensation construct and differential use by the two groups [t of -1.97 and p-value of 0.000]. A Multiple Regression with BMI scores as the dependent variable and group, Restraint, Hunger for the Next meal, Sweet taste ratings, Compensator scores, Early family Eating Behaviors, Diet to Avoid Gaining Weight and ‘I wish I weighed less’ as the independent variables showed significance for the EFEB construct [t of 6.18 p-value of 0.00] and ‘I wish I weighed less’ [t of 3.44 and p-value of 0.0001]. BMI was significantly associated with our participants’ class in college [f of 25.03 and p-value of 0.000] their current Age [f of 14.94 and p-value of 0.0002] and BMI was significant for the number of times our participants lost weight, a dichotomous component on the Early Family Eating Behavior Construct where a score of three weight loss attempts or more scored a 1 and two or fewer weight loss attempts was scored a 0 [f of 16.93 and a p-value of 0.0001]. Implications: It was an important finding that a healthy BMI was achieved and maintained by 101 of the 159 {50 were Dieters and 51 were Non-dieters} students in our study. We also found that eating behavior on the college campus today included a focus on ‘watching what they ate in order not to gain weight’ (Nichter, Ritenbaugh, Nichter, Vuckovic, Aicken, 1995) as well as dieting and non-dieting behaviors. Dieting, historically, was believed to be equivalent to Restrained Eating by Polivy and Herman (Herman, Polivy, 1975; Lowe, Foster, Kerzhnerman, Swain, Wadden, 2001 p254)) but there is now debate as to whether Dieting and Restrained Dieting do not reflect the same eating behaviors in those Non-obese, with BMI’s below 30 (Lowe, Doshi, Katteran, Feig, 2013, p1). It is a positive outcome, we believe, that the 63 {Non-dieters} do not to ‘diet’ for weight loss, but our results also indicate that an educational intervention teaching the utilization of hunger and satiety sensations to those ‘chronically dieting’ (46) students with BMI’s outside the normal range is still necessary on the University campus.

This dissertation consists of two essays on the influence of affect on consumer intentions and behavioral responses. In the first essay, the influence of negative affect on consumer satiation is investigated. In the second essay, the influence of conceptual fluency, a positive affective response of “feeling right” during advertising evaluations, evoked by the structural properties of memory networks, is identified. In the first essay, how anticipated consumption variety influences consumers’ affective responses to slow satiation in the present is investigated. Prior research has focused on how cognitive appraisals of present variety influence consumers’ satiation rates. However, in addition to cognitively attending to the present, consumers also generate affective information regarding future consumption events (e.g. thinking about dessert while eating an entrée). Results indicate that more anticipated consumption variety reduces the amount of negative affect consumers experience during recurrent consumption, which is found to extend consumers’ present consumption enjoyment (reduced satiation rates). Further, the moderating roles of vice and virtue product perceptions and consumer emotional intelligence are also investigated, providing additional evidence of the proposed affective process mechanism while identifying boundary conditions for the effect. In the second essay, how the structural nature of semantic memory can produce affective responses, in the form of conceptual fluency, to influence consumers’ product behavioral intentions is investigated. Memory activations, generated by key words in advertising, can provide a temporary boost to the perceived desirability of a given product. However, memories are not activated in isolation. Rather, an entire network of interrelated concepts is activated along with the focal memory through various learned associations. Despite a great deal of knowledge detailing the phenomena of memory spreading activations, research has primarily focused on which memories are connected to each other, rather than on how activated memories are connected to their surrounding networks. This essay identifies consumers’ responses to the betweenness centrality (e.g. providing mediated access to other concepts in memory via the shortest path) of a focal word in advertising, rather than the activation of specific associations, as critical for advertising success.

The invasive Indo-Pacific Lionfish Pterois volitans has been recognized as a severe threat to indigenous fish species on Caribbean reefs. Previous studies have identified an extensive variety of Caribbean fishes in the stomachs of lionfish, but few have tried to quantify the impact these invaders could have on endemic or threatened species. The threatened Labrid fish Halichoeres socialis has been identified as the primary component of lionfish diet in Belizean lagoonal reef systems. This study aims to answer two questions: what is the average maximum number of prey-fish a lionfish can consume in one sitting, and at what rate can these lionfish pass a meal of three prey fish completely? To test lionfish satiation, the subjects were fed as many Pseudohemiculter dispar (a commercially available surrogate) as they could eat within a fifteen-minute window. During the digestion rate experiment, lionfish were fed three similarly sized P. dispar and allowed to digest in 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 19, and 24 hour blocks. From observing prey throughput under near optimal laboratory conditions, the maximum potential impact of lionfish on native populations of Caribbean reef dwelling fishes can be estimated. Given the volume and mass of prey items consumed in this study between 593 and 4658 individual H. socialis could be consumed by a single lionfish in one year. Coupled with further investigation into H. socialis stock numbers, lionfish (P. volitans) could be considered a potentially immanent threat to fishes that exhibit body morphometrics like those of H. socialis at any stage of their life-history.

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