Use the Delboeuf Illusion to influence elderly food consumption? If you are not familiar, the Delboeuf illusion is an optical illusion of relative size perception. The best-known image exemplifying this illusion is two circles of identical size placed near to each other. One is surrounded with another circle. The Delboeuf Illusion makes the one surrounded by a circle look larger than the other. It is not.
The Delboeuf Illusion can influence elderly food consumption because vision plays a huge role in our perception of food. It influences how much we eat. Vision even affects our perception of how we think the food tastes.
A while back there were reports that using red plates for Alzheimer's patients helped the elderly eat more food. Getting Alzheimer's patients to eat more is a common struggle and many people ran out and purchased red plates. There were even companies selling red dinnerware and cups, specifically targeting caregiver's of Alzheimer's patients. Red plates did work much of the time, however a newer study demonstrated some faults in the concept. The newer study explored the Delbouef Illusion's Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior.
We are influenced by more than plate color.
Jan 26, 2012 Since the Delboeuf illusion influences people at such a profound, unconscious level, even when consumers are educated to its effects, and serve themselves with careful attention and awareness. Jun 07, 2018 Use the Delboeuf Illusion to influence elderly food consumption? If you are not familiar, the Delboeuf illusion is an optical illusion of relative size perception. The best-known image exemplifying this illusion is two circles of identical size placed near to each other. One is surrounded with another circle. Nov 11, 2011 The results of five studies suggest that the neglected Delboeuf illusion may explain how the size of dinnerware creates two opposing biases that lead people to overserve on larger plates and bowls and underserve on smaller ones.
- The Delboeuf illusion appears within real-world decisional settings as well, such that adult humans overestimate food portions (e.g., amounts of cereal) presented in small dishware (assimilation.
- Overall, by giving the impression of a larger portion on product packaging, the Delboeuf illusion could potentially be used to nudge consumers to find food more desirable, while at the same time.
The researchers of the, 'Plate Size and Color Suggestibility' study, did confirm that red plates could cause increased consumption of food,but only if there was a significant contrast with the food on the plate. Thus red plates were not always the best option to help the elderly to eat more. The study also discovered methods that will help people eat less. Basically their study revealed that the following methods would encourage people who struggle with vision issues or loss of interest in food to eat more:
- Use larger dinnerware to serve meals. Larger plates makes it seem like there is less food on the plate.
- Use dinnerware that contrasts greatly in color to the food (e.g. white food on red pates and red food on white plates)
- Use dinnerware that closely matches the color of the tablecloth.
Because of the Delbouf Illusion, how much one consumes is highly influenced not only by plate color, but also by plate size and even the background (tablecloth) the plate is placed upon.
Influence elderly food consumption by encouraging the elderly to eat more.
Getting the elderly to eat more is often an issue with Alzheimer's patients and with the elderly who have health or vision issues. According to the American Family Physician organization, approximately one person in three has some form of vision-reducing eye disease by the age of 65. The most common causes of vision loss among the elderly are age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy. Vision issues can significantly reduce interest in food. If you struggle to see the food on the plate, you are less likely to eat it. Below are three methods to increase food consumption:
- Purchase a selection of both light and dark dinnerware and tablecloths that match the color of the dinnerware as closely as possible. By having the tablecloth and dinnerware match, it helps create the impression that the plate is larger by reducing its edges.
- Choose oversized dinnerware. Often square plates are larger than round plates, but all dinnerware varies in size. Dinner plates that are 14' in diameter are as available as 11' diameter plates. It is even possible to find 16' dinner plates. Also look for dinnerware that has as small a rim as possible. This will maximize the plating area.
- Coordinate your dinnerware to contrast with the food you are serving. This will make it as visible and appetizing as possible. Serve cottage cheese, Alfredo, and mashed potatoes on dark dinnerware. Serve salads, chili, and tomato soup using light or white dinnerware.
Employing these methods utilizes the Delboef Illusion to influence elderly food consumption. The illusion convinces the person consuming the meal that there is less food in front of them. Because the plate is larger and it fades into the same color tablecloth, the food portions will appear to be a smaller portion. The contrast between the food and dinnerware increases the visual appeal of the food being served, and it helps delineate the food from the plate. Whether your parent is a finicky eater or has vision difficulties, they will eat more of the food you serve them.
Delboeuf Illusion And Food Truck
Influence elderly food consumption by encouraging the elderly to eat less.
Often times the elderly find themselves in a sedentary lifestyle due to surgery or health issues. Others may have struggled with being overweight all their lives and are now faced with losing weight. Changing a lifetime of eating habits is difficult, but you can use the Delboef Illusion to help the elderly eat less. Below are three methods to decrease food consumption
- Purchase a selection of both light and dark dinnerware and the tablecloths that match in color as much as possible. By having the tablecloth and dinnerware match, it helps to create the impression that the plate is larger by reducing its edges.
- Choose undersized dinnerware that is 10 inch or 9 inch plates if you can. Select dinnerware with e a small rim over a large rimmed plate so the elder feels they have all plate 'real estate' available to them.
- Coordinate your dinnerware to contrast with the food you are serving. This will make it as visible and appetizing as possible. Serve cottage cheese, Alfredo, and mashed potatoes on dark dinnerware. Serve salads, chili, and tomato soup using light or white dinnerware.
- Purchase a selection of both light and dark dinnerware and the tablecloths that match in color as much as possible. By having the tablecloth and dinnerware match, it helps to create the impression that the plate is larger by reducing its edges.
- Choose undersized dinnerware that is 10 inch or 9 inch plates if you can. Select dinnerware with e a small rim over a large rimmed plate so the elder feels they have all plate 'real estate' available to them.
- Coordinate your dinnerware to contrast with the food you are serving. This will make it as visible and appetizing as possible. Serve cottage cheese, Alfredo, and mashed potatoes on dark dinnerware. Serve salads, chili, and tomato soup using light or white dinnerware.
Employing these methods utilizes the Delboef Illusion to influence elderly food consumption. The illusion convinces the person consuming the meal that there is a full plate of food in front of them. The smaller plate will make servings appear larger and the similarity between the plate and the tablecloth will make the plate look larger. The contrast between the food and dinnerware increases the visual appeal of the food being served, and it helps delineate the food from the plate. Using this method will allow you to serve a person much less food but help them feel as if they have had a full meal. .
Other aspects of the study worth noting.
The study also showed there is a difference between being served and self-serving food. The researchers discovered, we have a strong tendency to over serve ourselves if we place food onto a plate that has little contrast to the food. It may seem a little confusing, but it all comes down to how visible the food is on a plate. In the process of self-serving you will put more greens onto a green plate than you will a white plate. And you put more Alfredo on a white plate than a red plate. A significant contrast between food and plate actually influences you to make the serving smaller. Same with a large versus a small plate. A large plate influences you to put more food on it than a small plate does. So when you are plating food for someone else, you'll need to keep this in mind.
Keeping plate color and size, food contrast, and who is doing the serving clearly in mind before plating a meal can help you achieve concrete goals of increasing or decreasing food consumption. You can help the elderly eat more or less using the delboeuf illusion at each and every meal. You can even use it on yourself.
To read the study in its entirety, you can find it here:
Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion's Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior ,Koert Van Ittersum and Brian Wansink, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 39, No. 2 (August 2012) (pp. 215-228), Electronically published November 11, 2011
Check out Other Articles on Our Site
You might not know how much food is on your plate. That's okay. Neither do I. That's because it depends on the plate.
Gloom download. See. The inner black circle on the left appears larger than the black circle on the right, but both black circles are actually the same size.
Meet the Delboeuf illusion, where we misperceive the size of a central circle because of what's surrounding it. In the image above, the black circle on the left is surrounded by a smaller circle, giving it the appearance that it's larger than the black circle on the right, which is surrounded by a larger circle.
Which brings us back to plates of food. It is the Delboeuf illusion that tricks us into thinking we have more food when it is on a smaller plate. That is why a search for the Delboeuf illusion on the Internet produces hits for weight loss this and weight loss that. Select the right plate, you are told, and you could consume less food. (I write that while eating frosting with a spoon. Am I even qualified to cover this topic? I digress.)
Visual illusions are not just for humans. Male bowerbirds not only construct elaborately decorated structures (bowers) to attract mates, they do so in a way that creates the illusion that they are bigger, thus potentially increasing mating success. Felicity Muth of Not Bad Science explains that if a sneaky researcher moves objects within a bird's bower and disrupts the illusion, males will reposition the objects to fix the disturbed illusion. Don't mess with my stuff.Bowerbirds are not alone. Numerous other animals also use, and are fooled by, visual trickery.
But it is not always easy to tell if another species picks up on illusions. In recent years, researchers turned to different methods to find out, such as the ‘spontaneous preference paradigm.' Here's how it works: Step 1: in control trials, determine whether animals spontaneously select the larger quantity of food when presented with two options. If they do, great. That sets a precedent for the next part. Step 2: in test trials, present them with food on plates in such a way that implements the Delboeuf illusion—the same amount of food is on each plate, but the plates differ in size. Those who initially went for more food would reveal themselves as susceptible to the illusion if they then select the smaller plate—the one that, according to the Delboeuf illusion, appears to have more food on it. Using this design, Parrish and Beran (2014) found that three chimpanzees fell for it, selecting the larger portion in control trials and then selecting food on the smaller plate in test trials. More recently, capuchin monkeys and rhesus monkeys were found to be generally fooled by the illusion.
What about the hounds? Bring in the hounds. Researchers from the University of Padua in Italy recently investigated the Delboeuf illusion in dogs. A total of thirteen dogs, both pet dogs and those residing at an animal shelter, participated in the study by Maria Elena Miletto Tetrazzini and colleagues, which appeared online this month in Animal Cognition. The dog study was modeled after Parrish and Beran's 2014 study with chimpanzees, first determining whether the dogs preferred larger quantities of food and then presenting equal amounts of food on two different-size plates.
Like the chimpanzees, dogs preferred more food, but unlike the chimps, when dogs were presented with equal amounts of food on different-size plates, dogs did not show a preference for the smaller plate. They went to either plate. The Delboeuf illusion, it appears, is not for dogs.
If bells are going off in your head, let me guess: are you wondering about smell? In the control trials, did the dogs go to the plate with more food because they smelled the difference in quantity? On the other hand, in the test trials could dogs smell that the quantities were the same, so plate-schmate, it's all the same?
A number of studies, including one I participated in, find something surprising: 'Dogs' ability to discriminate between two quantities of food items by using olfactory cues is surprisingly poor,' summarizes Miletto Petrazzini.
No one, of course, is suggesting that dogs can't use olfactory information to discriminate between amounts. Around the globe, trained dogs show off this ability daily. Instead, the studies suggests that average, untrained dogs are not necessarily attending to minute differences in olfactory cues. Additionally, in the Delboeuf test, the plates were about 5 feet from the dogs. Close olfactory investigation and comparison prior to making a decision, like in this video, was not possible.
Delboeuf Illusion And Food Stamps
The Delbouef story does not end here. A second study, also online this month in Animal Cognition, investigated the Delboeuf illusion with an entirely different procedure and also concluded that most dogs do not pick up on it. Here, Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere and colleagues at La Trobe University in Australia first used a positive reinforcement protocol to train eight dogs—in this case all Lagotto Romagnolos—to discriminate large from small circles presented on a computer screen. Then, dogs were tested on their susceptibility to different visual illusions. Again, Delboeuf was not in the cards for most dogs, although the two dogs who did pick up on it did so in the opposite direction as humans; in other words, the inner circle that appears larger to humans appeared smaller to dogs, and the inner circle that looks smaller to humans looked larger to dogs.
Nowadays, studies and news reports often highlight the similarities between dogs and people, as if we are two peas in a pod. 'Dogs do it like we do,' reports seem to say. 'We're on the same page.' But upon closer inspection, dogs often reveal their own dog-like way of processing and attending to the world. Understanding our differences, I'd argue, only strengthens our collective pod.
References
