Report on Caffeine Craving Reduction Through Imagery Modalities

This report summarizes a research study investigating the effectiveness of imagery-based techniques in reducing caffeine cravings. The study, focusing on coffee, explores the use of visual, olfactory, and auditory imagery as interventions. Experiment 1 revealed that visual, olfactory, and gustatory modalities are the most prominent in coffee craving experiences. Experiment 2 examined the effects of competing imagery tasks on craving reduction, finding that visual and olfactory imagery significantly decreased craving, while auditory imagery did not. Experiment 3 replicated these findings using a naturalistic exposure paradigm. The research concludes that visual and olfactory imagery can be effective in minimizing caffeine cravings, though the study's scope is limited to coffee. The report also suggests areas for future research, including the need for broader participant demographics, testing for contamination, and exploring other caffeinated substances. The study's findings align with previous research and provide valuable insights into the psychology of addiction and potential behavioral interventions.

SUMMARY
(Caffeine Addiction)

Table of Contents
RESEARCH SUMMARY...............................................................................................................1
Background of the study..............................................................................................................1
Aim of the study...........................................................................................................................2
Research methods used to address aim/question.........................................................................2
Results of the study......................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

RESEARCH SUMMARY
Background of the study
Craving simply means a strong or powerful feeling that indicates an intense desire in an
individual to consume something. It is a motivational aspect that is different from hunger and
encourages a person to intake a specific substance. Although number of studies has conducted in
the earlier period to investigate craving for cigarettes, food and other illicit substance i.e. alcohol,
tobacco, drinks etc and reported that craving have negative impact on the working memory,
however, the selected article had investigate the visual & olfactory imagery tasks that surpasses
coffee craving among people. Cognitive model reflects that sensory images comes at the core of
the craving feeling and experiences among people and Elaborated Intrusion (EI) model
demonstrates that the desire of intake something comes from intrusive thoughts that motivates
person to enrich & consume the substance. Consumption of the substances provides pleasure and
satisfaction to the individual, however, its ultimate effect is distressful because it intensity the
awareness that if the acquisition of the substance will be delayed then they cannot satisfy their
need. Such desire-based imagery results in limited resources of working memory and interfere
cognitive demand that will satisfy such resource requirements in an individual.
In light of EI theory, it has been predicted that all those activities that demand working on
memory conversely impacts the feeling of powerful desire-thoughts which in turn minimize
craving. Previous studies based on food and cigarette craving reported that olfactory, visual &
gustatory images are the central of craving experience with less auditory and tactile images and
in EI theory, such primary activities minimizes the strong desire of consumption of different
substances. The selected article had investigated the same paradigm in respect of craving for
caffeinated items and beverages like coffee and others. Although these consumption habits are
not pathological still, its habitual use can have various consequences on the health i.e. blood
pressure, stress, anxiety, insomnia, stress, physical dependencies and maximize the possibility of
cardiovascular diseases. Once it becomes habitual, it proven really tough to reduce or quit
excessive intake of coffee and other caffeinated products just due to craving because if an
individual will not use such substance then it will result in headache, cognitive decline,
depression, fatigue & other health hazards. Although gradual reduction in intake of caffeine has
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been reported through behavioral intervention, still, it did not reflect a good result. Therefore,
Kemps and Tiggemann (2009), investigated the contribution of an imagery-based technique of
intervention, specifically, modality-imagery in minimizing craving for caffeine.
Aim of the study
The thrust of the conducted research study was to explore that whether modality-specific
imagery assists people in minimizing the excessive intake of coffee in their regular diet or not. In
this, coffee has been selected as a substance because it the most ultimate source of caffeine
popular in the Western Society. Thus, it is the key question or focus of the research and in order
to respond it, researchers have used the theory of elaborated intrusion. It is important to
investigate that whether mutual competition between desire-based imagery and modality–
specific imagery tasks suppress craving experiences for coffee among people or not, because,
none of the scholar had investigated the issue earlier. Besides this, few researches in the
historical period reported that behavioral intervention may assist individual in reducing high
intake of coffee, still, the result was not very impressive. Further, it is also important for the
people to do not consume the coffee and other caffeinated substances in high extent because it
can lead to cause various healths hazardous i.e. pressure, stress, anxiety, insomnia, stress and
others. Therefore, such research study has been conducted to contribute towards helping people
in minimizing their craving experiences through assessing the impact of modality-specific
behavior as an intervention technique.
Research methods used to address aim/question
In order to collect data, researchers initially had performed a pilot survey in the
experiment 1 to look that similar to other substances, whether coffee craving feeling can be
characterized predominately through sensory images in olfactory, visual and gustatory modalities
or not. 1n this respect, scholar surveyed 106 habitual drinkers of coffee under the age group of
18-34 years that drink 2 cup coffee on an average each day. All the participants were provided
with a questionnaire, in which, a list of statement was constructed considering five modalities
(seen, heard, smelled, tasted and felt the texture) and asked to rate the images on a 10-point
rating scale immediately. The main shortcoming with the research is that investigator surveyed
only the female graduates and no male candidate had taken participation in the survey. However,
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the craving experiences in male & female may significantly differ on which, researcher did not
focused.
In 2nd experiment, scholar examined the effect of competing non-caffeine based imagery
tasks in light of olfactory, visual and auditory modalities on reduction in craving experience, in
which, 90 female took participation and all were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 conditions for
examining each modality (auditory, visual and olfactory). Coffee craving induction protocol
comprising deprivation & cue exposure and competing imagery tasks encompassing 18 cues for
every modality has been provided to the candidates. Every participant has been investigated
individually in Applied Cognitive Psychology Lab within time duration of 30 minute between 9
AM to 11 AM. They were only tested after their freely informed consent. Ratings were examined
using mixed ANOVA technique for analyzing 2 (pre-imagery & post-imagery time) * 3 (imagery
modalities; olfactory, visual & auditory). Besides this, correlation test was performed to
determine relationship between craving rates & competing vividness ratings across 18 trials. In
the final experiment, scholar used a naturalistic procedure through providing an actual exposure
to coffee and extended the study to sensory modalities. 90 female participants under the age
group of 17-35 performed it.
Results of the study
In my opinion, the derived results perfectly answered and addressed the research aim of
the study. It is because, under the study, in the first experiment, the derived results reflected that
visual, olfactory & gustatory are the most fundamental modalities as it is preferred by maximum
percentage to 41.21%, 22.13% and 21.19% respectively. In contrast, little number of participants
to 5.81% and 9.56% preferred auditory & tactile modalities indicates that sound & touch factors
plays a minor role. Therefore, in the following experiment, scholar only considered visual,
olfactory & gustatory as dependent factors in craving reduction. In this, under the coffee craving
protocol test, attractive coffee images were presented and all the candidates were asked to rate
every picture on a 10-point rating scale. They were provided with only 1 out of 3 imagery
modalities (olfactory, visual & auditory) comprising 18 trials or cues in each. According to
result, 11 female in the age of 23-33 years rated the pictures highly attractive. However, in
competing imagery task, it is inferred that visual cues use visual memory whilst auditory cues
use verbally working memory. In this, initially one-way ANOVA founded no significant
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difference in the craving rating for all the three competing modalities. However, analysis under
pre-imagery and post-imagery founded that craving rates for each modalities were pooled under
post-imagery period. Hypothesis testing founded that craving rates reduced after only the two
modalities that are visual and olfactory as their P-value is above 0.05, however, for the auditory
tasks, the results did not reflect reduction in craving experience among the participants. In
despite of this, correlation did not reflect statistically significant relationship between rates
allocated for craving with competing vividness rates. Thus, the finding adequately responded to
the designed research question and inferred that visual & olfactory significant contributes
towards minimizing craving effects for coffee among individuals. Final experiment result
replicated 2nd experiment outcome with a multi-sensory exposure paradigm because, in this,
coffee was actually presented to them which they can saw (visual), heard (auditory), smelled
(olfactory) and touched when they pour it into a coffee mug (tactile) (Kemps and Tiggemann,
2009). This exposure paradigm noticed successfully elicit of craving experiences for coffee with
competing visual & olfactory imagery activities which helps them in minimizing its habitual
consumption, however, auditory results present contrasting results as it does not significantly
contributes towards minimizing the excessive intake of coffee in an individual. Thus, the result
of experiment 3 fully proven the 2nd experimental results performed as both determined the
similar result and I opined that the research questions were perfectly addressed by the scholars.
Moreover, the results were consistent with the previous studies carried out by different scholars.
Conclusion
The discussion held above concluded that Visual and Olfactory modalities tasks have a
significant impact on the craving reduction among people. However, on the other side, as the
study only focused on coffee hence, it limits the outcome for making use of modality behavior as
an intervention technique for all the caffeinated products and provides a potential scope to the
future scholars to examine the issue thoroughly considering all the caffeinated substances.
Besides this, the study did not checked contamination during tests hence; future researchers must
include a test for manipulation check. Further, all the participants were not highly dependent on
coffee consumption as their average consumption was not reported too high. Hence, in upcoming
period, investigators must use caffeine addictive participants in the survey and include both male
and female of high sample size to investigate the issue thoroughly.
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REFERENCES
Kemps, E. and Tiggemann, M., 2009. Competing visual and olfactory imagery tasks suppress
craving for coffee. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 17(1). p.43.
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