Regulation of craving training to support healthy food choices under stress: A randomized control trial employing the hierarchical drift‐diffusion model

Abstract

Abstract Stress increases the likelihood of consuming unhealthy food in some individuals. Previous research has demonstrated that the Regulation of Craving ‐ Training (ROC‐T) intervention can reduce unhealthy food intake. However, its effectiveness under stress and the underlying mechanism remained uncertain. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the ROC‐T intervention in improving healthy food choices and to explore the intervention mechanism through computational modeling employing the hierarchical drift‐diffusion model (HDDM). This study adopted a 2 (ROC‐T intervention vs. control) * 2 (stress vs. no‐stress) between‐subject experimental design. A total of 118 employees (72 women, M age = 28.74) participated in the online experiment. Results show that the ROC‐T intervention increases healthy food choices under stress and no‐stress conditions. The HDDM results reveal a significant two‐way interaction for non‐decision time (Bayes factor, BF = 32.722) and initial bias (BF = 27.350). Specifically, in the no‐stress condition, the ROC‐T intervention resulted in lower non‐decision time and higher initial bias compared with the control group. The findings validated the negative impact of stress on healthy food choices, and that the ROC‐T intervention promotes healthy food choices both under stress and no‐stress conditions.