Heart rate variability as a biomarker for self-regulation : does resisting temptation for chocolate deplete the limited resource? / by Loretta Blanchette.

Abstract

"Experimental evidence supports the notion that lapses in behavioural self-regulation are a function of prior depletion of the self-regulatory resource (Baumeister, 2002). Resisting desirable foods such as chocolate can subsequently lead to increased food consumption. This constitutes the behavioural rebound effect as observed by Erskine (2008) through the use of a thought suppression technique. Using a relatively new psychophysiological measure, heart rate variability (HRV), Segerstrom and Solberg Nes (2007) discovered that expenditure of self-regulatory resource through instructions to eat carrots and resist chocolate led to subsequent decrements in HRV. The purpose of the present study was to partially replicate the work of Erskine (2008) to investigate whether active attempts to resist temptation induced through interaction with chocolate causes increases in consumption of chocolate when given the opportunity to eat ad libitum.