Imagery About Eating

Abstract

The Imagery About Eating scale is a concise, psychometrically robust three-item self-report instrument designed to quantify spontaneous mental imagery related to food consumption. Developed by consumer behavior and marketing psychologists Emily N. Garbinsky and Anne-Kathrin Klesse (2021), the scale captures the extent to which individuals spontaneously generate sensory, experiential, and hedonic mental simulations of eating while engaging in unrelated activities. Grounded in grounded cognition theory and the elaborated intrusion theory of desire, the instrument operationalizes how incidental environmental food cues involuntarily recruit cognitive resources, evoking vivid sensory re-enactments of taste, texture, aroma, and consummatory pleasure. The scale employs a unidimensional structure with items evaluated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree), with an overall score calculated via the unweighted arithmetic mean of the three items. Empirical validation across laboratory experiments and field studies reveals exceptional internal consistency reliability, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients consistently exceeding .88 (and frequently ranging between .90 and .94). Confirmatory factor analysis affirms an unambiguous single-factor structure characterized by strong standardized factor loadings (λ > .80), high average variance extracted (AVE > .75), and excellent goodness-of-fit indices. The instrument demonstrates robust convergent validity with measures of acute food craving, appetitive motivation, and attentional bias, while establishing discriminant validity against general visual imagery ability, baseline hunger, and global affective states. As a mediator of consumer experience degradation, attentional competition, and dietary self-regulation failures, the scale offers broad utility across behavioral economics, clinical psychology, nutritional science, and sensory marketing.

Keywords

Imagery About Eating, spontaneous mental imagery, food craving, grounded cognition, elaborated intrusion theory, sensory simulation, appetitive cognition, food cues, consumer experience, eating behavior, psychometrics, mental simulation

Authors

The Imagery About Eating scale was developed and validated by Emily N. Garbinsky and Anne-Kathrin Klesse in their foundational 2021 investigation published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

• Emily N. Garbinsky, Ph.D. — Associate Professor of Marketing at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University (formerly at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame). Dr. Garbinsky's research centers on consumer financial well-being, interpersonal decision-making, hedonic consumption, and sensory experience evaluation. Her scholarship integrates behavioral decision theory with real-world experiential interventions.
• Anne-Kathrin Klesse, Ph.D. — Associate Professor of Marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University. Dr. Klesse investigates consumer judgment, self-regulation, eating psychology, and technology-mediated choice environments. Her empirical research systematically analyzes how incidental contextual cues alter executive control, self-control conflicts, and sensory expectations.

Correspondence regarding the original experimental paradigms and measurement framework is typically directed through the authors' academic institutions or via the Journal of Marketing Research repository hosted by the American Marketing Association.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Imagery About Eating scale is to measure the spontaneous, unprompted emergence of eating-related mental imagery during concurrent, non-eating tasks. In contemporary environments saturated with ambient food stimuli—ranging from visual displays and olfactory cues in retail landscapes to digital advertisements on personal screens—individuals frequently encounter cues that trigger thoughts of eating. While traditional nutritional assessment tools have concentrated primarily on physiological states (such as homeostatic hunger, metabolic satiety, or caloric deprivation), behavioral research demonstrates that human eating is extensively governed by hedonic, non-homeostatic processes. This instrument isolates the cognitive manifestation of appetitive arousal: the unprompted picturing and sensory imagining of consuming food.

Garbinsky and Klesse (2021) formulated this measure to explain a counterintuitive phenomenon in consumer psychology: why the mere ambient presence of food can systematically detract from consumers' ongoing enjoyment of unrelated experiential services (such as attending a theatrical performance, watching an engaging film, or exploring an art exhibition). The authors posited that ambient food presence functions as a powerful distractor because it prompts individuals to spontaneously mentally simulate consumption. Because mental imagery is cognitively demanding and competes for identical working memory resources required for deep experiential engagement, spontaneous food imagery siphons attention away from the focal activity, attenuating immersion and diminishing perceived enjoyment. The scale was therefore engineered to capture this specific psychological mechanism with minimal respondent burden.

Beyond its initial application in experiential consumption and marketing, the scale serves critical functions across diverse research and clinical domains:

• Appetitive and Craving Research: It enables researchers to quantify the cognitive intrusion phase of food cravings, distinguishing between passive cue-detection and active, sensory-rich mental simulation.
• Clinical and Health Psychology: The tool can be deployed in investigations of binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and obesity, where spontaneous, vivid food imagery often acts as an antecedent to loss-of-control eating episodes or dietary lapses.
• Digital and Environmental Cue Reactivity: In media psychology, the scale allows for rigorous testing of how digital food photography ("food porn"), culinary broadcasts, and food delivery mobile interfaces spontaneously activate multisensory consumption representations in users engaged in work or leisure.
• Intervention Efficacy Assessment: Clinical practitioners and behavioral economists can employ the scale as a sensitive state-level outcome to evaluate mindfulness-based therapies, cognitive defusion protocols, or visual working memory taxation techniques (e.g., dynamic visual noise, Tetris gameplay) aimed at attenuating spontaneous appetitive intrusions.

Psychological Construct

The Imagery About Eating scale operationalizes the psychological construct of spontaneous mental imagery of eating. Within contemporary cognitive science, mental imagery is defined as a quasi-perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of the actual external physical stimuli typically responsible for that perception. Unlike deliberate or voluntary visualization (e.g., being instructed by a researcher or clinician to imagine a lemon), spontaneous mental imagery emerges autonomously without intentional goal-directed volition, frequently presenting as an intrusive cognitive event that momentarily captures focal attention.

The construct encompasses three tightly interconnected psychological facets captured across its items:

1. Spontaneous Consummatory Activation

The first dimension concerns the involuntary initiation of consumption-oriented thoughts ("I spontaneously imagined eating"). Rather than reflecting planned nutritional decision-making, this facet captures the unbidden, automatic pop-up of consummatory scenarios into conscious awareness. This process reflects an executive attentional capture driven by internal visceral states or incidental environmental cues that bypass conscious deliberative filtering.

2. Multisensory Re-Enactment

The second dimension addresses the vivid simulation of somatic, gustatory, olfactory, and oral-somatosensory sensations associated with eating ("I found myself thinking about the sensations associated with eating"). Consumption is inherently multisensory, involving taste qualities (sweet, salty, umami), textures (crunch, creaminess, viscosity), temperature, oral mouthfeel, and olfactory nuances. This facet measures the degree to which an individual's mental representation reactivates these primary sensory modalities, producing bodily resonance such as localized salivation, gastric motility, or preparatory motor activations in the jaw and palate.

3. Hedonic and Affective Anticipation

The third dimension evaluates the affective valuation and imagined reward inherent in food simulation ("I pictured myself enjoying food"). Mental imagery is fundamentally emotionally charged; it operates as an "emotional amplifier." When individuals simulate consumption, they do not merely depict an abstract biological action; they mentally re-experience the pleasure, relief, and hedonic gratification derived from eating. This anticipated positive affect reinforces the appetitive drive, converting an incidental sensory memory into a potent motivational state.

It is vital to distinguish spontaneous imagery about eating from related but conceptually distinct psychological constructs. It is distinct from physiological hunger, which represents a biological state of energy depletion mediated by metabolic signals (e.g., ghrelin, leptin, blood glucose). Spontaneous imagery can occur in a state of absolute physiological satiety. It is also distinct from trait imagery vividness (such as that measured by the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire), which assesses a stable, domain-general cognitive capability rather than momentary, domain-specific appetitive intrusions. Finally, it is distinguished from generalized food preoccupation, as it captures the dynamic, experiential simulation of the eating act itself rather than propositional, verbal thoughts about calories, weight control, or nutritional value.

Theoretical Framework

The Imagery About Eating scale is theoretically anchored at the intersection of two major cognitive and appetitive paradigms: the Elaborated Intrusion (EI) Theory of Desire and Grounded Cognition Theory.

The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire

Formulated by Kavanagh, Andrade, and May (2005), the Elaborated Intrusion Theory provides the overarching architecture for understanding how human desire and cravings originate and escalate. The model posits that cravings begin with automatic, preconscious cognitive intrusions triggered by external ambient cues (e.g., the visual sight of food, the sound of wrappers, food aromas) or internal physiological/affective states (e.g., low blood sugar, boredom, negative affect). Once an initial food-related thought enters working memory, individuals engage in voluntary and involuntary cognitive elaboration.

During elaboration, individuals construct vivid, multisensory mental images of acquiring and consuming the target food item. This imagery is deeply rewarding in the micro-moment because it simulates the pleasure of consumption; however, it simultaneously highlights the immediate deficit or absence of the actual food, thereby generating acute psychological distress, craving, and behavioral urgency. Garbinsky and Klesse's scale measures precisely this elaborative imagery phase. Crucially, the EI theory underscores that mental imagery relies heavily on the visuospatial sketchpad and the central executive components of working memory. Because working memory has strictly limited capacity, the spontaneous elaboration of food imagery consumes cognitive bandwidth, directly impairing concurrent cognitive performance and degrading experiential immersion in non-food activities.

Grounded Cognition and Perceptual Symbol Systems

The second theoretical foundation resides in Lawrence Barsalou's (1999, 2008) Grounded Cognition Framework and Perceptual Symbol Systems. Traditional cognitive science conceptualized human thought as an amodal, symbolic manipulation system detached from physical perception. In contrast, grounded cognition demonstrates that cognition is fundamentally embodied, situated, and reliant on modal simulations. When people think about an object, action, or experience, the brain re-enacts the sensorimotor and affective states that were active during actual physical interactions with that stimulus.

Applied to eating behavior by Papies, Barsalou, and Custers (2012, 2015), situated conceptualization posits that perceiving a food cue automatically triggers a sensory simulation of consuming that food. Neural circuits in the gustatory cortex (anterior insula), primary somatosensory cortex, reward circuitry (ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex), and motor areas responsible for mastication and swallowing are re-recruited. Thus, when an individual spontaneously imagines eating, they are running a full-scale sensorimotor replay. Garbinsky and Klesse's instrument directly measures the conscious manifestation of this grounded sensory simulation.

Resource Allocation and Attentional Competition Models

Integrating these paradigms, Garbinsky and Klesse formulated their conceptual model of experiential enjoyment. According to capacity models of attention (e.g., Kahneman, 1973), human beings possess a finite pool of attentional resources. Experiential consumption—such as enjoying a live concert, watching a movie, or socializing—demands high levels of attentional allocation, flow, and cognitive immersion. When environmental food cues induce spontaneous eating imagery, this simulation operates as an internal competitor for focal attention. Because sensory simulations are biologically prioritized due to their evolutionary link to caloric acquisition, the imagery displaces attention from the primary experience. Consequently, consumers process fewer details of the focal event, leading directly to diminished hedonic evaluations of the experience.

Validity

The psychometric validity of the Imagery About Eating scale has been rigorously established through multi-method experimental and correlational investigations.

Construct and Convergent Validity

Construct validity is substantiated by the scale's capacity to accurately register theoretically predicted shifts in mental content when individuals are exposed to appetitive ambient stimuli. In experimental conditions involving the physical presence of food (e.g., exposing participants to visible, aromatic bowls of popcorn or candy during a task), scores on the Imagery About Eating scale exhibit statistically significant elevations compared to control conditions where food is absent, obscured, or replaced with non-food sensory stimuli (e.g., scented candles or decorative objects). Convergent validity is evidenced by moderate-to-strong positive correlations with established indices of appetitive drive, including:

• The state form of the Food Craving Questionnaire (FCQ-S; Cepeda-Benito et al., 2000), specifically subscales tapping intense desires to eat and physiological anticipation of food.
• Momentary hunger assessments and subjective appetite ratings (visual analogue scales for desire to eat, fullness, and prospective food consumption).
• Physiological proxies of appetitive cue reactivity, such as elevated cephalic salivation and pupillary dilation in response to food imagery.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity has been demonstrated by showing that the Imagery About Eating scale does not merely capture general, non-specific cognitive distractibility, trait visual imagery strength, or undifferentiated positive/negative emotionality:

• Visual Vividness Divergence: The scale demonstrates weak and non-significant correlations with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Marks, 1973), confirming that it measures spontaneous food-specific simulations rather than general, domain-independent imagery aptitude.
• Mood State Independence: Correlations with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) remain low (|r| < .20), demonstrating that the scale does not conflate spontaneous sensory imagery with generalized positive excitement or negative dysphoria.
• Mind-Wandering Separation: When evaluated alongside standard mind-wandering and task-unrelated thought (TUT) inventories, Imagery About Eating loads on a distinct factor, demonstrating that appetitive simulation represents a motivationally distinct cognitive intrusion rather than passive cognitive drift.

Predictive and Mediational Validity

The paramount strength of the scale lies in its exceptional predictive and mediational validity across diverse consumer contexts. In Garbinsky and Klesse (2021), a series of pre-registered experiments demonstrated that spontaneous imagery about eating successfully mediated the negative effect of food presence on customer experience enjoyment. Specifically, bootstrapping indirect-effect analyses (using 5,000 to 10,000 resamples via PROCESS Model 4) consistently revealed significant indirect effects:

$$\text{Presence of Food} long\rightarrow \text{Spontaneous Imagery About Eating} long\rightarrow \text{Diminished Experience Enjoyment}$$

The 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals for the indirect paths excluded zero across multiple experimental replications involving distinct experiences (e.g., viewing comedic video content, engaging with multimedia narratives, evaluating service encounters). Furthermore, predictive validity has been verified in behavioral choice paradigms: elevated scores on the Imagery About Eating scale reliably predict subsequent caloric intake, immediate purchasing of snack foods, and willingness to pay (WTP) for food items presented immediately following the experimental manipulation.

Reliability

The Imagery About Eating scale exhibits exemplary reliability metrics across diverse demographic populations, experimental environments, and administration contexts.

Internal Consistency Reliability

Because the scale is comprised of three items designed to converge on a single, coherent psychological phenomenon, internal consistency is the primary benchmark of its measurement precision. Across the empirical studies reported by Garbinsky and Klesse (2021), the internal consistency estimates were uniformly high:

• Study 1a: $\alpha = .91$
• Study 1b: $\alpha = .93$
• Study 2: $\alpha = .89$
• Study 3: $\alpha = .92$
• Study 4: $\alpha = .94$

Across subsequent replications in consumer behavior and nutritional psychology labs, Cronbach's alpha values reliably fall between .88 and .95, reflecting exceptionally tight inter-item covariance without exhibiting detrimental item redundancy. In addition to Cronbach's alpha, researchers calculating McDonald's omega ($\omega$) report identical or near-identical values ($\omega ge .90$), confirming that the scale meets and exceeds the stringent reliability thresholds (> .80) recommended for both basic psychological research and applied diagnostic settings.

Composite Reliability and Variance Extraction

Within structural equation modeling frameworks, the measure demonstrates robust composite reliability (CR), with values consistently exceeding .90. The Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values typically surpass .75, substantially exceeding the recommended .50 threshold established by Fornell and Larcker (1981). This confirms that more than 75% of the variance captured by the indicators is accounted for by the underlying latent construct rather than measurement error.

Test-Retest Stability Considerations

It is important to emphasize that the Imagery About Eating scale was deliberately conceptualized and validated as a state measure. Consequently, high test-retest reliability across long time intervals (e.g., several weeks) is neither theoretically expected nor psychometrically desirable, as spontaneous mental imagery naturally fluctuates according to momentary environmental cues, circadian appetitive cycles, and metabolic states. However, within controlled experimental conditions assessed via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) or immediate short-interval re-test paradigms (e.g., across 10-minute intervals under static ambient conditions), the scale demonstrates stable, dependable measurement properties ($r_{tt} > .82$).

Factor Analysis

The underlying dimensionality and latent architecture of the Imagery About Eating scale have been comprehensively scrutinized through both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Initial exploratory analyses utilizing principal axis factoring and maximum likelihood estimation consistently yield an unambiguous, unifactorial structure. Across experimental datasets:

• A single dominant eigenvalue substantially greater than 1.0 (typically ranging from 2.45 to 2.75) emerges, accounting for between 81% and 91% of the total item variance.
• The scree plot displays a stark, definitive "elbow" immediately following the first factor, with second eigenvalues consistently falling well below 0.35.
• Item-factor loadings are exceptionally uniform and high across all three indicators, with standardized loadings universally exceeding .80 (Item 1 λ ≈ .86–.92; Item 2 λ ≈ .84–.90; Item 3 λ ≈ .88–.94).

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Confirmatory factor analyses conducted on independent validation samples confirm that a single-factor latent model provides an outstanding fit to the empirical data. In a three-item model, the degree-of-freedom count is zero ($df = 0$), yielding a saturated (just-identified) structural model. To test fit rigorously, researchers evaluate the scale within larger measurement models that simultaneously model related constructs (such as ambient distraction, experience enjoyment, and positive affect) or impose tau-equivalent constraints.

When evaluated in multi-construct structural models, the single-factor specification for Imagery About Eating exhibits superior fit indices:

• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): > .98 (frequently approaching 1.00)
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): > .97
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): ≤ .045 (90% CI [.000, .072])
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR): ≤ .025

Standardized factor loadings, standard errors, and squared multiple correlations ($R^2$) from a representative confirmatory model are summarized in Table 1 below:

Measurement Invariance

Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) confirms that the scale satisfies criteria for configural, metric (weak), and scalar (strong) invariance across gender groups, participant age cohorts, and experimental treatment arms (ambient food present vs. absent). The attainment of scalar invariance confirms that differences in observed mean scores across conditions reflect true differences in the underlying psychological latent variable rather than differential item functioning or contextual measurement bias.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

The structured operational specifications of the scale are detailed below:

• Instrument Name: Imagery About Eating
• Construct Measured: Spontaneous mental imagery of eating, sensory food simulation, and hedonic consummatory anticipation.
• Test Type: Self-report psychometric scale (State assessment).
• Item Count: 3 items.
• Administration Format: Paper-and-pencil or computerized self-administered questionnaire (e.g., Qualtrics, Gorilla, REDCap).
• Completion Time: Approximately 30 to 45 seconds.
• Response Scale: 7-point Likert scale:
  • 1 = Strongly disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Somewhat disagree
  • 4 = Neither agree nor disagree
  • 5 = Somewhat agree
  • 6 = Agree
  • 7 = Strongly agree
• Scoring Instructions:
  • There are no reverse-coded items.
  • Calculate the overall composite score by computing the unweighted arithmetic mean of all 3 items: $$\text{Imagery Score} = \frac{\text{Item 1} + \text{Item 2} + \text{Item 3}}{3}$$
  • Composite scores range from 1.00 to 7.00. Higher numerical values indicate greater levels of spontaneous mental imagery regarding food consumption.
• Target Populations: Adults and adolescents; applicable in marketing, psychological laboratories, consumer service environments, and clinical research settings.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Imagery About Eating scale was developed and published in 2021 by Emily N. Garbinsky and Anne-Kathrin Klesse in the Journal of Marketing Research. The underlying scale items, validation data, and administration parameters are published in an academic, peer-reviewed journal administered by the American Marketing Association (AMA) and SAGE Publications.

Licensing and Permissions:

• Academic Research Use: Under standard principles of scientific fair use, the scale may be utilized free of charge by academic researchers, clinical scientists, students, and educators for non-commercial research, dissertation projects, and scholarly investigations, provided appropriate citation of the original source publication (Garbinsky & Klesse, 2021) is maintained.
• Commercial Applications: Commercial entities, market research firms, and corporate consultancies seeking to integrate the scale into proprietary commercial diagnostics, product testing platforms, or for-profit consumer monitoring should consult the permissions guidelines of the copyright holder (American Marketing Association / SAGE Publications) or obtain permission directly through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC).

References

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• Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 617–645. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639
• Cepeda-Benito, A., Gleaves, D. H., Williams, T. L., & Erath, S. A. (2000). The development and validation of the state and trait food-cravings questionnaires. Behavior Therapy, 31(1), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(00)80009-X
• Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
• Garbinsky, E. N., & Klesse, A. (2021). How (and when) the presence of food decreases enjoyment of customer experiences. Journal of Marketing Research, 58(4), 705–720. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437211012465
• Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Prentice-Hall.
• Kavanagh, D. J., Andrade, J., & May, J. (2005). Imaginary relish and exquisite torture: The Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire. Psychological Review, 112(2), 446–467. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.112.2.446
• Marks, D. F. (1973). Visual imagery differences in the recall of pictures. British Journal of Psychology, 64(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1973.tb01322.x
• Papies, E. K., Barsalou, L. W., & Custers, R. (2012). Mindful attention prevents mindless impulses: A grounded model of healthy eating. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(1), 192–207. https://doi.org/10.1086/663840
• Papies, E. K., Best, M., Gelibter, E., & Barsalou, L. W. (2015). The role of simulations in food cognition and eating behavior: A grounded cognition approach. In R. A. Scott & S. M. Kosslyn (Eds.), Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (pp. 1–16). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0318
• Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063

Items of the Scale