Noise, Distraction Makes You Naughty...You Eat More!

One of my favorite theories to study is cognitive resource depletion, which says that your ability to resist temptations and focus your attention is limited and once you run out you aren't able to stop yourself from doing all sorts of naughty things.

A recent article on NPR reports on a study by Andy Woods at U. of Manchester which found that people who were distracted were less likely to distinguish sweetness and saltiness. Suzanne Higgs at U. of Birmingham found that when people were distracted during lunch they were more likely to eat more cookies later in the afternoon!

So why does distraction during eating make us eat more? It may be that distraction distorts the brain's ability to process perceptions of foods we are eating but that remains to be uncovered by more research. And yes that is indeed on my long to do list!