The Impact of Reward Sensitivity on the Relationship between Hedonic Hunger and Loss of Control Over Eating

Abstract

The current study investigates whether individual differences in reward sensitivity impact the well-established relationship between hedonic hunger and loss of control over eating (LOC) to better understand factors that influence eating behavior in the current obesogenic environment. One-hundred and twelve participants were administered surveys measuring select demographic information, hedonic hunger, reward responsivity (RR), and LOC. Exploratory analyses also were conducted to determine whether patterns of responding were impacted by sex differences. Results indicated that there was a positive correlation between hedonic hunger and LOC as well as between hedonic hunger and RR. No correlation was found between RR and LOC, and, in the tested mediation model, RR did not mediate the relationship between hedonic hunger and LOC as hypothesized. These results offer evidence that dispositional motivation toward reward does not necessarily mediate the relationship between hedonic hunger and loss of control over eating. Implications and future directions are discussed.