The Effect of Go/No-Go Training Dosage on Weight Loss, Food Evaluation, and Disinhibition in Primarily Overweight and Obese Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Response inhibition trainings have recently been studied as innovative approaches to obesity treatment by targeting the impulsive (unconscious) processes that underlie eating behaviors. Specifically, the go/no-go (GNG) task has resulted in reduced food consumption and small, but significant, weight loss in two brief intervention studies. In the current study, participants were randomized to one of three groups: high intensity food-specific GNG (four times per week for 4 weeks; n = 19), low intensity food-specific GNG (one time per week for 4 weeks; n = 22), or nonfood-specific GNG (i.e., control group, one time per week for 4 weeks; n = 23). Pre- and post-intervention measures assessed for changes in body weight, food evaluation, snack consumption, binge eating, and dietary disinhibition. It was hypothesized that those receiving the food-specific GNG training (high intensity and low intensity groups) would experience greater improvement in outcome measures than those in the nonfood GNG group and that a similar pattern would result between the high intensity and low intensity food-specific GNG groups. Moderators (e.g., dietary restraint, disinhibition) were explored, along with the mechanism of food devaluation. Results of repeated measures ANCOVA's (controlling for BMI and dieting status) for all outcome variables revealed there was no significant difference between groups across time. No studied variable was found to moderate the effects of the training, and the devaluation of foods did not mediate the relationship between GNG training and weight loss. Therefore, regardless of dosage, the GNG training did not have a meaningful effect on any of the outcomes assessed. Future research should focus on identifying the underlying mechanism of food-specific GNG training and its interaction with person specific characteristics.