Study title

The data in this collection are from a randomised controlled trial testing whether a smartphone application that encourages a more attentive eating style reduces energy intake and promotes weight loss. Studies 1 and 2 use laboratory feeding methods to manipulate and interfere with memories for recent eating, in order to test and understand the influence that different memory elements have on food consumption. Study 3 tests whether targeting memory for recent eating and promoting a more 'attentive' approach to eating through the use of smartphone technology can help overweight and obese individuals eat less and lose weight. Obesity is now a major biosocial issue that affects most of the developed world. Rises in obesity have been caused primarily by increases in the amount of food people have been eating. However, the long-term reductions to food consumption which are required to promote weight loss are difficult to achieve for most people on their own. Recent work has shown that memory for recent eating experiences is an important determinant of eating behaviour; by having an accurate memory representation of what we have been eating throughout the day, we can make better decisions about how much to eat. This raises the possibility of developing intervention tools that target memory for recent eating in order to help people eat more healthily. In line with this, initial results suggest that encouraging individuals to eat in a more 'attentive' manner, by ensuring attention is paid towards meals being eaten, improves memory for recent eating and reduces the amount of food people tend to eat. These finding are promising as even modest reductions to food consumption can promote weight loss and therefore have positive effects on health and well-being. Although it has been suggested that memory informs food consumption, how this process occurs is unclear. If we are able to understand how 'attentive' eating reduces food consumption, this may have public health...