literature review on pleasure

Reading for Pleasure: A Review of Current Research

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• Published: 22 March 2024

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• Ana Vogrinčič Čepič   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2352-4934 1 ,
• Tiziana Mascia   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3047-5002 2 &
• Juli-Anna Aerila   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1109-8803 3  

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The narrative review examines the current state of research on reading for pleasure and its relevance in education and personal development. By analysing 22 studies published over the past several years (2014–2022), the authors have sought to identify the key trends and areas of focus within this field. The selected articles have been coded and analysed, and the results have been used to, among others, examine the type of research on reading for pleasure, the subject areas covered, the research methods used, the variables analysed, and the target groups involved. A particular attention has been paid to possible conceptualisations of reading for pleasure and reading for pleasure pedagogy, to the type of reading and the texts reading for pleasure may predominantly be associated with, as well as to its social dimension and relationship to the digital literary environment. The literature review shows that the studies on reading for pleasure highlight the importance of personalisation in reading for pleasure pedagogy and acknowledge the role of the material and social dimension of reading. Further, there are signs of a broader definition of reading materials, like comics, also in the educational context. The findings of the present review indicate the gaps in the research of reading for pleasure and highlight the need for a more profound understanding of the title concept and its benefits, thus contributing to the development of its future research and promotion.

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Introduction

Broadly speaking, reading for pleasure refers to any kind of reading the reader gets pleasure from. It is not limited to any genre (there is no universally defined literature for pleasure that reading for pleasure would refer to) and is usually associated with non-obligatory reading of self-chosen texts and characterized by high level of reader’s engagement and enjoyable experience of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991 ).

Two large-scale ongoing surveys, PISA (2000–2018) and PIRLS (2001–2016), routinely demonstrate that students who like reading are better and stronger readers, which means that reading motivation and the pleasure associated with reading are among the key conditions for high reading achievement and should therefore be properly addressed and acknowledged. Footnote 1 While a direct comparison on reading for pleasure between PISA and PIRLS data is not possible due to different response categories and target groups, the results of both of the surveys urge us to think about new ways of luring students into reading. Especially older students’ reading habits as presented in PISA are cause for concern. The parameters in the cycles that looked in detail at reading performance, that is, in 2000, 2009 and 2018, show that in the majority of countries the number of students reading for enjoyment is decreasing. In all countries and economies, girls reported much greater enjoyment of reading than boys, and the fact that girls on average in every assessment clearly outperform boys in reading, suggests there is indeed a strong association between reading achievement and enjoyment of reading, as confirmed not only by PISA and PIRLS but also by many other researches (Guthrie et al., 2010 ; Mol & Jolles, 2014 ; Nurmi et al., 2003 ; Petscher, 2009 ).

What’s more, enjoying reading seems to be the decisive indicator of successful reading performance and academic attainment in general. Students who enjoy reading, and make it a regular part of their lives, are able to improve their reading skills through practice. Better readers tend to read more because they are more motivated to read, which, in turn, leads to improved vocabulary and comprehension skills ( PISA 2018 Results , vol. II. ch. 8, OECD, 2020 ). In fact, gaps in reading scores attributable to different levels of reading engagement (of which enjoyment is a key component) are far greater than the reading performances gaps attributable to gender. In other words: reading engagement is an important factor that distinguishes between high-performing and low-performing students, regardless of their gender. Boys who are more engaged in reading tend to outperform female students who are less engaged in reading ( Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow , OECD/UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2003 ). Footnote 2

This article presents a narrative literature review based on recent academic articles on the topic of reading for pleasure. The study systematically reviews peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2022 with the aim of investigating how reading for pleasure figures in academic articles and identifying the most current themes of the research on reading for pleasure as well as the areas that still need to be researched. One of the focuses of the study is the idea of reading for pleasure pedagogy and it aims to highlight the ways in which reading for pleasure could be implemented in educational environment and in practice, since this is where policymakers could have a positive influence.

In the section “ The Concept of Reading for Pleasure ” we first try to present the title phenomenon and its related notions by drawing on the many existent definitions, taken from mainly older (book) studies (not articles) that were not included in the review, with the intention to see how the 22 articles under examination relate, differ or elaborate on the existing idea of reading for pleasure.

After explaining the methodology of our review and the data analysis procedure, we present the results divided in several topics.

The initial general research questions of the study were: What kind of peer-reviewed articles have been published on reading for pleasure between 2014 and 2022? How is reading for pleasure understood in peer-reviewed articles between 2014 and 2022? And, what is the relationship between reading for pleasure and pedagogy in peer-reviewed articles? These were our broad issues of interest, that guided us through the review, which provided us with some more or less specific answers.

The Concept of Reading for Pleasure

Literature on reading for pleasure uses a variety of definitions and interpretations of the concept as well as different denominations. Often, reading for pleasure is used interchangeably with ‘reading for enjoyment’ (Clark & Rumbold, 2006 ), ‘leisure reading’ (Greaney, 1980 ), ‘free voluntary reading’ (Krashen, 2004 ), ‘independent reading’ (Cullinan, 2000 ), or ‘recreational’ (Manzo & Manzo, 1995 ; Ross et al., 2018 ) and ‘self-selected reading’ (Martin, 2003 ), but also ‘engaged’ (Garces-Bascal et al., 2018 ; Paris & McNaughton, 2010 ), even ‘aesthetic’ (Jennifer & Ponniah, 2015 ) and ‘ludic reading’ (Nell, 1988 ). It is variably described as: “reading that we do of our own free will, anticipating the satisfaction we will derive from the act of reading” (Clark & Rumbold, 2006 , p. 6), “a purposeful volitional act with a large measure of choice and free will” (Powell, 2014 , p. 129), and “non goal-oriented transactions with texts as a way to spend time and for entertainment” (The Reading Agency, 2015 , p. 6).

In contrast, reading for academic purposes typically involves texts that are assigned as part of a curriculum, and then evaluated or tested on. It has a more structured and goal-oriented focus, whereas reading for pleasure tends to be open-ended and driven by the reader’s own interests and preferences (Wilhelm & Smith, 2014 ). It typically involves materials that reflect our own choice, at a time and place that suit us. Instrumental views on reading do not necessarily preclude pleasure as one can certainly experience pleasure when reading assigned literature, and many situations fall in-between work and leisure, but the primary context for reading for pleasure is undoubtedly linked to a relaxed and obligation-free atmosphere.

For struggling and/or reluctant readers, reading for pleasure is harder to experience when reading individually and is almost an achievement in itself. There is a proven correlation between skill and enjoyment which is why good readers tend to enjoy reading much more: If the student does not read fluently, it means that the effort and energy the student has to put into reading is greater than the pleasure (s)he gets from reading. Therefore, (s)he prefers to avoid reading, if possible. Consequently, bad readers become worse, and vice versa (see Stanovich, 1986 for Matthew effect, and also Möller & Schiefele, 2004 ). It is thus important that the chosen texts (their content, composition, stylistic features and their level of complexity) match the reader’s reading ability, level of pre-existing knowledge and reader’s interests (Sherry, 2004 ). All this plays a vital role in ensuring reading motivation, another concept reading for pleasure is closely connected to.

Reading motivation is a complex notion, which is usually divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation to read comes from personal interest or enjoyment of reading and is related to positive experiences with reading itself. Studies have shown that intrinsic incentives, such as personal interest in the material, curiosity, involvement in the text, and a preference for challenge (e.g., McGeown et al., 2012 ) are better predictors of reading frequency and comprehension than extrinsic incentives, such as rewards or grades, parental pressure etc. (Becker et al., 2010 ; Lau, 2009 ; Schaffner et al., 2013 ; Schiefele et al., 2012 ; Wang & Guthrie, 2004 ). Even so, extrinsic motivation can gradually change into intrinsic (see also the notion of emergent motivation, Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2005 ). Intrinsic motivation refers to being motivated and curious to perform an activity for its own sake. It is the prototype of fully autonomous or self-determined behaviour and therefore represents the most optimal form of motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). In the case of reading, this means that children read because they enjoy it and become fully engaged in reading. Many studies report that intrinsic reading motivation generally declines over the school years (Kirby et al., 2011 ; McKenna et al., 1995 ; Wigfield et al., 2015 ), while further findings suggest that extrinsic motivation decreases over time as well (Paris & McNaughton, 2010 ; Schiefele et al., 2012 ).

In an educational system, where there is a focus on reading for assessment purposes, offering students opportunities for reading for pleasure can help them develop a lifelong love of reading. By showing them that reading can be enjoyable and introducing them to different reading materials and reading-related activities, everyone can find something to their liking (Collins et al., 2022 ; Merga, 2016 ). For conquering reading for pleasure, it is equally crucial to master the skills of reading as to reach the state of fully engaging and immersive reading, that is, feel a sustained impulse to read characterized by intense curiosity and a search for understanding (Baker & Wigfield, 1999 ; Wang et al., 2020 ). It is much easier to achieve it if one is a ‘good-enough’ reader.

Several studies have by now clearly demonstrated that the benefits of reading for pleasure far surpass the direct literacy-related aspects. Apart from improved reading comprehension, critical thinking skills and increased vocabulary, reading for pleasure can provide cognitive benefits, encourage social interactions, as people often discuss and share their reading experiences with others (Boyask et al., 2021 , 2023 ), improve emotional and psychological well-being (Mak & Fancourt, 2020a ), healthy behaviours (ibid., 2020b ) and a sense of personal enjoyment (Department for Education, 2012 ; The Reading Agency, 2015 ). Reading for pleasure is seen as a crucial foundation for lifelong learning and social and cultural participation, and can contribute to improved relationships with others, as well as to a better understanding of personal identity (The Reading Agency, 2015 ).

After providing this basic outline of reading for pleasure we will now present our review strategy.

Methodology

This study utilizes a narrative literature review, an approach suited for examining topics that have been studied from various perspectives across different research fields. A narrative literature review provides a thorough examination of a subject, facilitating the development of theoretical frameworks or laying the groundwork for further research (Snyder, 2019 ). This methodology is effective in mapping out a research area, summarizing existing knowledge, and identifying future research directions. Additionally, it can offer a historical perspective or timeline of a topic.

To conduct this review, the authors undertook a series of methodical steps: initially, they established a focus for their research before refining their research question as necessary. Subsequent steps involved identifying key search terms and establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria for the literature search. Upon retrieving relevant literature, the quality and pertinence of the identified studies were rigorously assessed. The data from these studies was then synthesized. Finally, in alignment with the procedures and findings the authors critically reviewed and presented the accumulated evidence, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the research topic.

Data and Data Collection

The material for this research was gathered through a two-phase process. In the first phase, an extensive search based on the key words ‘reading’ and ‘pleasure’ was conducted using the search machine Volter which implements searches of the 502 databases of the University of Turku. The search returned articles from the following databases: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost Education, EBSCOhost SocINDEX, Taylor and Francis Social Science and Humanities with Science and Technology, SAGE Journals Premier 2022, Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete, JSTOR Arts and Sciences II and III, Literature Online (LION), ProQuest Central and Cambridge Journals Current Subscription Content. However, the key words returned articles outside our focus area (in total 1473 hits) regarding the content and the field of sciences. Therefore, we decided to limit the search and tested several key word combinations: (1) education, reading for pleasure pedagogy, (2) reading for pleasure pedagogy and children, (3) reading, pleasure, motivation and (4) reading, pleasure and children. As these searches returned almost the same articles and did not limit the data enough (all the searches with more than 1000 hits), we decided to stay with the original search code “reading” AND “pleasure” but limit the data with following limitations: the field of science (excluding medical studies and natural science), the type of the publication (articles in academic journals), and open access. The publication year was restricted to articles published between 2014 and 2022, and only peer-reviewed articles written in English were included. The search resulted in 101 articles (originally 143 but as the duplicates were removed 101 remained) on a variety of topics, including foreign language learning and literary criticism. These articles were saved in a secure Google Drive folder and were only accessible to the researchers using a specific keyword.

During the second phase of the research process, all three researchers carefully read through the articles obtained in the first search and excluded those that only marginally dealt with reading for pleasure. Among others, we eliminated review articles and those that mainly belonged to the field of literary studies. Any duplicate versions were also removed. At last, we investigated the articles of the previous searches, and decided to add three of them to our final list. The second phase thus ended up with 22 articles which formed the data of this study. The list of the articles included in the review is presented in Table  1 together with the name of the journal, the author(s) and the title of the article.

Data Analysis

After defining the data, the data-analysis began. The data was analysed according to multi-phased, regulated and controlled coding (see Thorne, 2008 ), using mainly qualitative analysis supported with quantifications. The preliminary analysis started with reading the articles individually multiple times to acquire an overall picture of the content and to identify the categories on the basis of which we would then code the articles. This phase was mainly data-driven, but theory-driven analysis was used to support the researchers in defining the coding categories.

Apart from the basic information on each article, which included the title and the author(s), the name of the journal and publication year, we also took note of authors’ institutional and national affiliations. We then defined 12 categories for coding the articles, which are: the type of the article (theoretical and/or research); the target group of the study (according to age, type of readers and profession, if applicable); the methodology that was used (qualitative and/or quantitative); whether and how reading for pleasure was defined in the article, whether the article addressed reading for pleasure in an educational-context or not; whether reading for pleasure was understood as a means for better (school-related) achievement or rather in connection with other benefits; the focus of the article; whether the article was based on traditional view of reading (i.e., printed books only) or not; whether there was any consideration of the digital dimension; did the article talk about reading for pleasure pedagogy; did it consider the social aspects of reading; and did it define the meaning of pleasure itself. When possible, we also marked whether certain aspects (such as, e.g., traditional understanding of reading) were explicit or just implied. Finally, each article was equipped with a short summary of the content. This helped us to better grasp how reading for pleasure is understood and contextualized.

Each researcher independently analysed the 22 articles according to the above categories, and the results were then compared and discussed within the group. In most categories, the researchers reached a consensus, only in some instances there were slight differences in how individual categorisation was interpreted or described (as in question when a definition of a certain concept is explicit or implied). These discrepancies were addressed and resolved through discussion. On the basis of the above-described article categorisation the articles were coded to allow for quantification of the data.

The analysis took a two-folded approach, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the qualitative analysis, the researchers carefully read through the analysis of the articles and identified the prevalent categories and themes. The goal was to gain a descriptive understanding of the current research on reading for pleasure. Coded categories were then used in the quantitative analysis yielding a basic overview on the prevailing topics, approaches and aims of the articles included. Both analyses were first carried out independently by each individual researcher and then confirmed by all. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses are presented separately and then synthesised in the conclusion.

As already implied, the reliability of the analysis was supported by researcher triangulation, meaning that several researchers study the same phenomena, using the same methods, techniques and theoretical framework of departure. If the researchers come to the same conclusions, the research process can be considered valid.

Publication Year, Represented Disciplines, National Affiliations

The results of the literature review show that the journals the articles were published in belong to various fields of knowledge: educational sciences, literacy, reading and language research, as well as library and information science and psychology. Half of the articles (n = 11) were published in journals concentrating on education and school context, and one third of them (n = 7) in journals on literacy, reading and language research, including also the research on second and foreign language learning. The rest of the disciplines mentioned above are represented by two journals each. In three cases, the same journal contributed two articles to our literary review data; these journals were Literacy , Cambridge Journal of Education and Reading in a Foreign Language . All the other journals in our selection are represented by one article each, which suggests that the topic of reading for pleasure is quite evenly handled in various disciplines.

The analysis shows that the articles on reading for pleasure were published relatively evenly throughout the years 2014 and 2022. However, over half of the articles were published after 2017 which might indicate a growing interest in the topic (Table  2 ).

Then again, if we take into consideration the advance online publication date (DOI number links), the numbers change (most notably for the year 2020), and the increase after 2017 seems less noticeable (Table  3 ).

According to the analysis, reading for pleasure is being researched on almost all the continents—Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. About one third of the articles derives from Europe, with United Kingdom having the highest number of published articles on the topic (n = 5). These are articles written by Burnett and Merchant ( 2018 ), Kucirkova and Cremin ( 2018 ), Kucirkova et al. ( 2017 ), Reedy and De Carvalho ( 2021 ), Sullivan and Brown ( 2015 ). Almost all the authors come from academic institutions, such as institutes and universities. However, there is also one primary school teacher (Reedy in Reedy & De Carvalho, 2021 ), a high school professor (Arai, 2022 ) and a librarian (Shabi in Abimbola et al., 2021 ). The origin countries of authors’ institutions are presented in more detail in Table  4 .

Even though the articles of our data come from several continents and have publication forums of different disciplines, they seem to concentrate on similar themes and have in most cases practical aims. The most common topics were the benefits and effects of reading for pleasure, the perceptions and attitudes of children/students on reading for pleasure, and the relation of reading for pleasure to digital reading. The articles apparently aimed at understanding the nature and meaning of reading for pleasure. The requirement for a broader definition of reading was pronounced as well as a role of pedagogy in ensuring reading for pleasure.

Type of the Articles, Research Methods and Target Group Contexts

Most of the articles in the data are traditional research articles (n = 15). One third of the articles (n = 7) have a more theoretical focus and may reference previous interventions or other empirical data sources. The methods used in the research vary: nearly half of the studies (n = 10) use qualitative methods, about one third (n = 6) use quantitative methods, and a few (n = 4) combine qualitative and quantitative methods. Two of the articles do not employ any methodology.

The target groups of the studies presented in the articles vary from minors to adults. Nevertheless, it appears that reading for pleasure research focuses mainly on children and the young, as half of the articles investigate this target group, and one fifth (n = 4) deal with both minors and adults. This means that only one third of the articles (n = 7) discuss reading for pleasure in relation to non-minor population: two of them specifically address librarians and library professionals (Merga and Ferguson, 2021 ; Ramírez-Leyva, 2016 ), while the other five are about university students. Some of the studies used existing data sets or data originally collected for other purposes (e.g., Sullivan & Brown, 2015 ). The size of the data varies depending on the characteristics of the data, ranging from under twenty to thousands of participants.

There is a wide range in the age of the groups studied, with some studies focusing on specific age groups, such as children or teenagers (e.g., Retali et al., 2018 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ), while others include a more diversely aged population (e.g., Kavi et al., 2015 ; Kucirkova et al., 2017 ). In most cases, the data concerned participants that were over 15 years old: secondary or high school students and second language learners at a university. Accordingly, a wide majority of articles (n = 15) relate to the educational context: primary and secondary schools and universities.

The analysis shows that very few studies identified reading groups according to their reading attitudes. One of the studies explicitly concentrated on investigating good readers (Thissen et al., 2021 ), and another (Wilhelm, 2016 ) focused on readers who were marginalised in a sense that they did not read the materials approved or used in school. It is somewhat surprising that weak or reluctant readers were not targeted as an object of study, as the articles seem to concentrate on using good or average readers as models for reading for pleasure. The only article that calls for pedagogy as well as for materials adjusted for the diverse readers (Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ) does not refer to any specific target group. Other than that, the only target group with challenges in reading were the second language readers (e.g., Arai, 2022 ; Ro & Chen, 2014 ).

Understanding of Reading, the Digital Dimension and the Social Aspect of Reading

Over half of the articles (n = 13) define reading in a sense that exceeds the traditional idea of reading the verbal printed books. They talk about ‘multimodal approaches to reading’ (e.g., Kavi et al., 2015 ; Ramírez-Leyva, 2016 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ), and ‘wide reading’ (McKnight, 2018 ), and use a more inclusive repertoire of genres, not habitually read in schools, such as comics, graphic novels and song lyrics (Reedy & De Carvalho, 2021 ; Retali et al., 2018 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ), as well as various (literary and non-literary) digital formats, which blur the lines between texts and films, text and games, and text and music, thus offering the reader more choice and potentially a more personal and pleasurable reading experience (Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ). Except for underlining the importance of self-chosen nature of the texts, most articles do not limit the type of literature appropriate for reading for pleasure. However, there is a noticeable albeit implied emphasis on narrative and fiction, that is, texts which tell stories of lived experience (Barkhuizen & Wette, 2008 in Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ).

The digital dimension is mentioned in half of the articles (n = 11), mostly when referring to reading material. One research examines the interaction the readers experience with media texts (Burnett & Merchant, 2018 ), another deals with how gamified reading might improve the reading interests and feelings of pleasure (Li & Wah Chu, 2021 ), Chireac et al. ( 2022 ) investigate the effects of creating videos on reading for pleasure, and Kucirkova and Cremin ( 2018 ) emphasise how the digital libraries, applications and digital storybooks allow for a more personalised reading experience.

The social aspect of reading in terms of its collective and shared experience is addressed in half of all the reviewed articles (n = 11), mainly published after 2018. This can partly be attributed to the digitalisation of the reading experience they refer to, which has a more pronounced social dimension. However, reading aloud, collective reading and discussion with others on what was read may all form part of pleasure experience with the printed text as well. According to Kucirkova et al. ( 2017 ), reading for pleasure is a social practice in a sense that the reader’s pleasure from engaging with a narrative is increased through the possibility of sharing this experience with others. With digital books, this engagement can be even expanded and intensified as readers can share their insights with others both remotely and/or immediately. Kucirkova and Cremin ( 2018 ) consider participation, defined as shared and sustained reading for pleasure engagement, as one of the six facets of children’s reading for pleasure engagement, which are particularly brought to the fore by digital books (together with affective, creative, interactive, shared and sustained engagement).

Despite being referred to in half of the articles, the social dimension in reading is more thoroughly examined only in a few of them: see McKnight ( 2018 ) for ‘new and participatory media forms’; Mahasneh et al. ( 2021 ) for ‘community-based reading intervention’, Kucirkova and Cremin ( 2018 ) for ‘community-oriented interactive space’, and Burnett and Merchant ( 2018 ) for ‘affective encounters’.

The Meaning of Reading for Pleasure

More than half of the articles (n = 14) include definitions of reading for pleasure, while eight of them do not. In four cases reading for pleasure is explained only via synonyms (Ghalebandi & Noorhidawati, 2019 ; Li & Wah Chu, 2021 ; Ro & Chen, 2014 ; Sullivan & Brown, 2015 ), which we did not count as a definition, in the other four articles, that do not define reading for pleasure, its meaning is either implied (e.g., as in contrast to reading from textbooks in Willard & Buddie, 2019 ), or the term is used without further explanation (Sénéchal et al., 2018 ; Willard & Buddie, 2019 ). The concept is addressed evenly in research and theoretical articles.

The articles can be divided in two groups according to the level on which they try to grasp the notion of reading for pleasure. The first can be labelled as descriptive, loose and instrumental, and as such closer to the already discussed Clark and Rumbold’s broad understanding of reading for pleasure ( 2006 ), emphasizing free choice and free will, experience of engagement, availability of various materials, and the context of leisure, entertainment and engagement. There are seven articles that can be categorized as such (among others: Mahasneh et al., 2021 ; Merga & Ferguson, 2021 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ). The other seven articles employ a more analytical approach, taking the above outlined idea of reading for pleasure as a basis, but opening it up to a more complex scrutiny, trying to detect different types of reading for pleasure, as well as various dimensions of pleasure and components of the reading experience that may affect it (e.g., Arai, 2022 ; Thissen et al., 2021 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ). The potential of environmental and material aspects of pleasure-reading is addressed, especially in relation to the digitization (Burnett & Merchant, 2018 ; Chireac et al., 2022 ; Reedy & De Carvalho, 2021 ). Rather than settling for one monolithic idea of reading for pleasure, these authors talk about the personalized pleasure-reading experience and emphasize the role of children’s agency and choice (Arai, 2022 ; Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ; Reedy & De Carvalho, 2021 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ).

Three of the reviewed articles offer a comparatively more in-depth approach to reading for pleasure. Thissen et al. ( 2021 ) discuss how different experiential dimensions of fiction reading—a sense of presence, identification, feeling of suspense and cognitive involvement—relate to pleasure, and suggest that flow is what integrates them all together, making it the strongest predictor for reading pleasure. “Flow is not only a key predictor of the pleasures of reading narratives but also modulates other important dimensions of the fiction reading experience, such as a sense of being present in the story world, identification with protagonists, feelings of suspense, cognitive involvement with the story, and text comprehension” ( 2021 , p. 710). Similarly, Arai ( 2022 ) defines pleasure as flow experience and relates it to the perceived book difficulty. Burnett and Merchant ( 2018 ) discuss the notion of the affect and enchantment in reading for pleasure in the context of digital reading and everyday literacy. They present reading as inextricably entangled not just with the text but also with other people, places and things, and describe the enchantment as an affect generated in the relations between these various elements. Their examples show the complex and diverse ways in which reading and pleasure are entwined, and that can range from immersive to ephemeral, individual to collective, and encompass anything from momentary hilarity to deep engagement.

All these (7) articles that delve deeper into the understanding of contemporary reading for pleasure tend to apply it to new media. The new media affect the nature of pleasure, especially when it comes to the young, which is why methods of reading motivation have to be adjusted to digital media environments. Being new and relevant they are more likely to engender feelings of pleasure in young people. Chireac et al. ( 2022 ) for example suggest creating videos (in which readers explain why they have chosen to read a certain book) as a support reading-related activity in order to boost pleasure and enhance reading comprehension.

Another aspect that characterizes the more in-depth discussions on reading for pleasure in the reviewed articles is the pronounced attention on the reader and on the pursuit of a personalized version of pleasure reading. Reedy and De Carvalho ( 2021 ) state that children’s agency must be fostered in order to create a pathway towards reading for pleasure; they present a number of case-study examples illustrating this practice with a special emphasis on the children’s co-creation of the reading setting. Kucirkova and Cremin ( 2018 ) talk about fostering reading for pleasure with personalized library managements systems, which can recommend book titles through algorithmic analysis of available titles and users’ past engagement with texts. They see huge potential in both—personalized books (print and digital) and in personalized response to text. Wilhelm ( 2016 ) also focuses on the perspective of the reader and analyses where s/he gets the pleasure from when reading voluntarily. In responses of avid adolescent readers, he detects five distinct types of pleasure: the immersive pleasure of play, intellectual pleasure, social pleasure, the pleasure of functional work, and the pleasure of inner work, underlining the pleasure of play, that is, the pleasure of living through a story, as the most important one.

These analytical articles reveal that reading for pleasure is a complex concept that should be explored in depth, in order for its various layers to be understood and translated into practically useful pedagogical approaches in the contemporary contexts.

The Need for Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy

Reading for pleasure pedagogy is addressed in nine out of 22 articles. It is usually not specifically defined and mainly refers to different practices and approaches of implementing reading for pleasure in the school curricula. The concept is more or less equally present in research as well as in more theoretically inclined articles. While the majority of research and intervention-based articles in our review describe various tools and techniques on how to incite reading for pleasure in the educational context, there are also a few that offer a more in-depth insight on the topic and build up on professional knowledge, developing a specific type of pedagogy, that is, reading for pleasure pedagogy (Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ; McKnight, 2018 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ).

A common finding of the articles regarding reading for pleasure in general and reading for pleasure pedagogy in particular is that more opportunities should be afforded to include reading for pleasure in the school curricula (e.g., McKnight, 2018 ; Reedy & de Carvalho, 2021 ), or—as Wilhelm puts it: “the power and potential of pleasure suffers from a degree of neglect in schools, teaching practices and in research base” ( 2016 , p. 31). If nothing else, students should be able to choose the texts themselves or at least have more frequent possibilities to do so. Next, there is an evident consensus that too much focus is placed on reading as a technical and functional skill, framing it as a measurable result rather than a lived experience and process. In contrast to reading competence, reading for pleasure is not assessed and is frequently side-lined by high-profile focus on reading instruction, decoding and comprehension. This is reflected in the fact that more articles (n = 10) view reading for pleasure primarily as a means to achieve better literacy and literacy-related benefits, rather than as a goal that brings other, unmeasurable positive outcomes (n = 7). Four articles refer to both sides, and one article refers to neither option. Even so, the authors generally agree there should be a balance between the ‘skill to read and the will to read’.

Another common thread of discussion regarding reading for pleasure pedagogy is a call for working on a better understanding of pleasure and on what brings pleasure in the context of reading, since this is a base for a successful transaction between the reader and the text. In order to achieve this, several components should be acknowledged: a broad understanding of reading; personalized approach, adapted to the individual reader; attention to contextual elements (the setting, time and place of reading, atmosphere), and social dimension, that is, potential for interaction. An effective reading for pleasure pedagogy should therefore take into account new and participatory media forms, that would correspond to twenty-first century reading practices, and acknowledge a reader’s individualized interest (reflections, attitudes and lived experience) and his/her own perception of pleasure. It should involve an active role of the teacher as a reader and create an authentic teacher–child dialogue (Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ; McKnight, 2018 ). However, in practice, curriculum constraints and time limitations very much impede the effective reading for pleasure pedagogy, making it heavily dependent on individual teacher’s endeavours and beliefs (Chireac et al., 2022 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ), rather than on explicit knowledge of a reading for pleasure pedagogical framework, which is why a greater professional understanding of reading for pleasure pedagogy should be ensured.

Apart from confirming the reputation of reading for pleasure as “a fuzzy concept” (Burnett & Merchant, 2018 , p. 62), being loosely rather than exactly defined, this study also shows the concept has been expanding to include a wider range of reading materials, such as e-books and comics (e.g., Kavi et al., 2015 ; Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ; McKnight, 2018 ; Ramírez-Leyva, 2016 ; Retali et al., 2018 ; Reedy & De Carvalho, 2021 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ; Wilhelm, 2016 ). As more children are exposed to digital media, it is important to understand how these materials can be used to motivate children to read and encourage a love of reading (Kucirkova & Cremin, 2020 ). Studies also highlight reading in a second language, traditionally observed merely as a language learning activity, as a possible pathway towards reading for pleasure.

The loose definition of reading for pleasure makes it difficult to compare and fully understand the results of different studies. It is important to gain further knowledge on the nature of pleasure and on where the pleasure may come from, in order to be able to evoke it in the context of reading and develop effective reading for pleasure approaches. As observed, some of the examined articles address these very issues and try to detect the different components or criteria contributing to pleasure reading. The two most underlined notions in this regard refer to the importance of personalisation and to the acknowledgment of material and social dimension of reading. As already implied, by personalisation we think of approaches that encourage reading by taking in consideration the specifics of an individual reader, his or her interests, needs, wishes and choices. This does not exclude the foregrounding of the social dimension of reading as the latter is exactly what many readers need, and besides, personalized approach often results in grouping readers with similar agenda, which in itself could incite motivation.

The experience of pleasure may vary with individuals, and it is important to study and try to understand where the pleasure for different individuals comes from and then try to link it to reading. The personalised reading approach addresses intrinsic motivation and may as such also help encourage the reluctant readers, who have been rather side-lined in the examined selection of texts, as well as narrow the gender gap, a challenge that—despite being very foregrounded in the PISA and PIRLS results—is surprisingly not very explicit in the reviewed articles.

Reading for pleasure pedagogy plays a crucial role here. It refers to teaching methods and approaches that aim to promote reading for pleasure among students and typically involves a wide range of reading materials to choose from, encouraging students to read for enjoyment and personal fulfilment. Reading for pleasure pedagogy can take many forms and practices, including social reading environments, reading aloud, independent reading and informal book talks (Safford, 2014 ). It implies studying the specific characteristics of texts and materials that are most likely to be engaging and enjoyable for students, and provides guidelines on how teachers can use these materials to encourage reading for pleasure. However, there is a need to further investigate reading for pleasure pedagogy in order to better understand the specific strategies and approaches that are effective in promoting pleasure-reading among students.

We need new ways of contextualizing reading for pleasure that would fit with the range of practices emerging in an increasingly digital age. We have to pay attention to the environmental and interactive dimension of reading encounters. In short, we need to grasp reading for pleasure as personalised, embedded and situated phenomenon and ensure the conditions for practicing it. On the basis of the above observations a solid standardised methodology for ‘measuring’ reading for pleasure, or rather for measuring the efficacy of reading for pleasure pedagogy, can and should be created. What we need is an integration of a more detailed knowledge and practice, which would help educators and policy makers gain a deeper understanding of how to promote a love of reading.

The real actor in the pedagogy of reading for pleasure, however, is the teacher. Teachers’ knowledge of children’s and young adult literature and other texts, of their reading practices, of reading for pleasure itself and of pedagogical approaches with concrete tools and equipment is the key factor in promoting reading for pleasure. In line with the need to develop personalized methods and relational approaches, we need to equip teachers with professional knowledge and also with enough time to get to know the readers and develop appropriate and tailored strategies to integrate reading for pleasure into the curricula. This requires systematic support and cannot depend on individual teachers.

One of the ways in which it would be possible to help the teachers and other reading mentors getting to know the readers is creating the methodology for profiling the readers according to their skills, practices and attitudes, on the basis of which a more thorough personalisation could be made. This is even more important since there is a pronounced need for a more targeted research on poor and reluctant readers, which are the least represented in the research, the hardest to reach, and for whom reading for pleasure is more difficult to experience.

Apart from that and in order to provide support for the often over-burdened teachers we believe schools could benefit from cooperation with the external ‘reading motivators’, properly educated and school-unrelated librarians, that would take over a set of reading for pleasure-related workshops, tailor-made on the basis of the profiles and the related reading pathways, as well as on individual interaction. Also, bringing somebody from ‘the outside’ could help create a more relaxed, less ‘schoolish’ atmosphere and contribute to a more effective pursuit of reading for pleasure.

So far, what seems to have been achieved through research on reading for pleasure is a recognition of the importance of reading for pleasure; now we need to ensure it finds its regular place in everyday contexts. Despite the obvious emphasis on children and the young in school context, we have to keep in mind that reading for pleasure needs to be fostered also in relation to other populations, not necessarily linked to educational institutions.

In this study, we conducted a narrative review of a selection of articles published between 2014 and 2022 that focused on reading for pleasure. The review analysed articles on reading for pleasure published in various disciplines, mainly in education and in literacy, reading and language research, but including also library and information science, and psychology. Most of them are traditional research articles using qualitative methodology. Research on reading for pleasure has been conducted in various countries and continents, indicating that there is a widespread interest in understanding the benefits and promoting this activity. As the majority of the articles were published after 2017, the trend might be indicating a growing interest in the topic. The target groups of the articles varied, with a majority focusing on minor readers (e.g., Ghalebandi & Noorhidawati, 2019 ; Kucirkova et al., 2017 ; Vanden Dool & Simpson, 2021 ), although there was a wide range in the ages and sizes of the populations studied. Participants in the research were mostly fluent readers, that is, good and average high or secondary school and university students (Sullivan & Brown, 2015 ; Thissen et al., 2021 ; Willard & Buddies, 2019 ), which indicates the centrality of educational context in the discourse on reading for pleasure. This is also reflected in the fact that more articles consider reading for pleasure primarily as means to achieve better reading skills and literacy-related benefits, rather than in connection to other positive outcomes (e.g., Arai, 2022 ; Kavi et al., 2015 ; Li & Wah Chu, 2021 ). A good half of the reviewed texts considers a broad understanding of reading, including digital media forms, and acknowledges the importance of the social dimension in reading for pleasure (e.g., Burnett & Merchant, 2018 ; Kucirkova & Cremin, 2018 ; McKnight, 2018 ).

Referring to our initial research questions, we could summarize that the articles focus on the benefits of reading for pleasure, present practical examples of reading for pleasure promotion, especially in relation to the digital environment, analyse perceptions and attitudes towards reading for pleasure, discuss the nature of pleasure, and the role of schools and libraries in ensuring reading for pleasure. The findings suggest that reading for pleasure has a positive impact on various aspects of education and personal development (e.g., Sullivan & Brown, 2015 ; Willard & Buddie, 2019 ), and that it is important to promote and encourage this activity. Almost two thirds of the articles in some way or another define reading for pleasure, almost one third analyse it in more detail and over one third specifically address reading for pleasure pedagogy. What stands out is a noticeable endeavour for a better, in-depth understanding of what brings pleasure in reading, the focus on the reader and a personalized approach of reading for pleasure, as well as the articulated need of developing reading for pleasure pedagogy.

Limitations

A relatively small number of the articles under examination limits the representability of our review results, however, we believe that we have nevertheless identified the current trends and challenges, as well as signalled potential solutions and thus in a small way contributed to the empowerment of reading for pleasure.

For the PISA and PIRLS results documentation see https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/ and https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/pirls .

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Vogrinčič Čepič, A., Mascia, T. & Aerila, JA. Reading for Pleasure: A Review of Current Research. NZ J Educ Stud (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-024-00313-x

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• Reading for pleasure
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Pleasure and PrEP: A Systematic Review of Studies Examining Pleasure, Sexual Satisfaction, and PrEP

Christine m. curley.

a Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

b Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP), University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

e The first two authors are co-authors on this manuscript, as they contributed equally to design and analyses.

Aviana O. Rosen

c Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

Colleen B. Mistler

Lisa a. eaton.

d Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is an effective form of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention for people at potential risk for exposure. Despite its demonstrated efficacy, PrEP uptake and adherence have been discouraging, especially among groups most vulnerable to HIV transmission. A primary message to persons who are at elevated risk for HIV has been to focus on risk reduction, sexual risk behaviors, and continued condom use, rarely capitalizing on the positive impact on sexuality, intimacy, and relationships that PrEP affords. This systematic review synthesizes the findings and themes from 16 quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies examining PrEP motivations and outcomes focused on sexual satisfaction, sexual pleasure, sexual quality, and sexual intimacy. Significant themes emerged around PrEP as increasing emotional intimacy, closeness, and connectedness; PrEP as increasing sexual options and opportunities; PrEP as removing barriers to physical closeness and physical pleasure; and PrEP as reducing sexual anxiety and fears. It is argued that positive sexual pleasure motivations should be integrated into messaging to encourage PrEP uptake and adherence, as well as to destigmatize sexual pleasure and sexual activities of MSM.

Introduction

Advances in research and treatment for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have transformed an HIV diagnosis from a death sentence to a manageable chronic illness for those with access to testing, treatment, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), with the HIV-related death rate in the United States (U.S.) falling by half between 2010 and 2018 ( Bosh et al., 2020 ). Globally, new HIV diagnoses have dropped 30% in the past ten years, with AIDS-related deaths nearly cut in half since 2010 ( UNAIDS, 2021 ). However, despite medical advances and broadened knowledge about HIV transmission, HIV incidence has remained stagnant in much of the world, with new global HIV infections ranging from 1.5 million to 1.8 million annually ( UNAIDS, 2021 ), and new HIV infections in the U.S. ranging from 37,000–40,000 annually ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020 ). These facts remain troubling for HIV researchers, health care practitioners, and individuals at risk of exposure to HIV.

The tools for HIV prevention dramatically expanded in 2012 when the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug Truvada for men who have sex with men (MSM), which effectively lowered the risk of HIV seroconversion among HIV-negative persons (FDA, 2012). PrEP is a pill taken by individuals who are HIV-negative that reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 99% when taken as prescribed ( CDC, 2021b ). Since 2012, PrEP has become available in hundreds of countries, contributing to a global increase in PrEP use, and PrEP eligibility in the U.S. has expanded to include a wider range of people at risk for HIV, including persons who report any acts of condomless sex ( Schaefer et al., 2021 ). A subsequent iteration of PrEP has aimed to reduce side-effects and improve efficacy when a daily dose has been missed ( FDA, 2019 ).

There are several other efficacious HIV prevention methods including Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a medication taken after potential exposure to HIV, but it is only recommended for use in emergency situations ( CDC, 2021a ). The U=U campaign (Undetectable = Untransmittable) and Treatment as Prevention (TasP) conceptualize that when an individual who is HIV-positive initiates and adheres to ART to lower their viral load to undetectable levels, they are actively preventing HIV transmission ( Kalichman, 2013 ; Rendina et al., 2020 ). Negotiated safety is an additional HIV prevention method, in which there is an explicit agreement with established boundaries regarding condom use or exclusivity in the partnership ( Kippax et al., 1993 , 1997 ; Leblanc et al., 2017 ). These methods can be highly effective tools for HIV risk reduction even when engaging in condomless anal sex ( Kippax & Holt, 2016 ), although each method requires reliance and trust on a sexual partner to be aware of their HIV-positive status, to be adherent to ART to achieve an undetectable viral load, or to have open communication about their sexual behaviors with others. These methods may pose further challenges in the U.S., as many MSM living with HIV are unaware of their positive status, and ART adherence remains difficult for many individuals receiving treatment ( CDC, 2018 ).

PrEP is not without challenges, as there are several structural, financial, and social stigma barriers to PrEP uptake and adherence ( Guyonvarch et al., 2021 ; Mayer et al., 2020 ; Sullivan & Siegler, 2018 ), the scope of which vary across sociodemographics, risk factors, jurisdictions, and location. However, this review focuses primarily on PrEP, as PrEP has several notable benefits including long-term use, allowing individuals on PrEP to advocate and be responsible for their own sexual health without reliance on negotiations with a partner, and freedom to engage in sexual activities without knowing the HIV status of their sexual partners.

While PrEP’s efficacy when taken correctly has been demonstrated, PrEP uptake and adherence has lagged worldwide ( Owens et al., 2019 ; Sidebottom et al., 2018 ). Although the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a 70% increase in PrEP users from 2018 to 2019, the total number of individuals who received at least one dose of oral PrEP in 2019 was only 630,000, with most in the U.S. (37%) and Africa (36%) ( WHO, 2021 ). This figure falls considerably short of the number of persons at high risk for HIV who are recommended to begin PrEP based upon WHO guidelines.

Campaigns promoting PrEP have predominately focused on HIV prevention and reducing the risk of HIV to motivate individuals at elevated risk for HIV to adopt PrEP as a risk reduction strategy ( Owens et al., 2019 ). This risk-focused messaging often fails to acknowledge studies on motivations for PrEP uptake which have found that greater sexual freedom, not merely minimization of sexual risk, may underlie decisions to seek PrEP (Ranjit et al., 2019, 2020 ; Zimmerman et al., 2019 ). Ranjit et al. (2019, 2020 ) have posited a dual motivation model to increase PrEP uptake, outlining a Protection Motivation Pathway derived from a desire to protect oneself from risk, often in the context of safe sex fatigue; and the Expectancy Motivation Pathway, derived from a desire for more satisfying and pleasurable sexual experiences. Ranjit et al. (2020) and Zimmerman et al. (2019) found that among samples in both the U.S. and Ukraine, persons may possess a mixture of motivations, both personal and contextual, such as self-efficacy for adherence, individual risk profile, sexual situations, and desire for improved physical and mental well-being. Similarly, Zimmerman et al. (2019) found that these motivations may shift based upon relationship status and other contextual factors. These studies support the rationale that in addition to sexual health motivations, embracing the pursuit of sexual pleasure as a motivator for PrEP uptake may positively influence PrEP adoption.

Paradoxically, PrEP messages that target greater sexual pleasure and sexual freedom may collide with PrEP stigma, as PrEP stigma is grounded in large part in moralization against sexual pleasure, casual sexual encounters, and sexual exploration as being inherently negative ( Calabrese & Underhill, 2015 ). Research examining barriers to PrEP adoption by MSM has found PrEP stigma to be a predominant impediment to willingness to adopt PrEP, as PrEP stigma incorporates stigma toward sexual minorities, social stigma pertaining to certain sexual behaviors and stigma against sexual promiscuity ( Eaton et al., 2017 ; Girard et al., 2019 ; Grace et al., 2018 ; Peng et al., 2018 ; Quinn et al., 2020 ). Qualitative interviews and focus groups of MSM reflect persistent stigma experienced within gay communities themselves, as opposed to wider societal views. Responses from the focus groups were organized around concepts of social risk, immoral promiscuity, responsibility, and perceived irresponsibility ( Girard et al., 2019 ; Quinn et al., 2020 ). Unfortunately, focus on stigma has often overshadowed the sexual benefits of using PrEP; namely, less sexual anxiety, more sexual pleasure, and increased sexual intimacy. In some respects, PrEP stigma has translated to stigmatizing sexual pleasure, which undermines the positive health and well-being benefits of sexuality.

Sexual satisfaction, distinct from sexual function, frequency, and orgasm, has been found to correlate with measures of well-being as well as physical health ( Diamond & Huebner, 2012 ; Flynn, et al., 2016 ; Laumann et al., 2006 ; Rosen & Bachmann, 2008 ; Stephenson & Meston, 2015 ). In these studies, sexual satisfaction is a subjective concept, rather than an objective counting of sexual behaviors or function, such that sexual satisfaction equates with “an individual’s subjective evaluation of their sexuality” ( Castañeda, 2013 , p. 25), or as defined by Lawrance and Byers (1995) as, “an affective response arising from one’s subjective evaluation of the positive and negative dimensions associated with one’s sexual relationship” (p. 268). Global endorsements of sexual pleasure as an important component of sexual health and overall well-being have emerged as well ( Ford et al., 2019 ), framing sexual pleasure as a matter of public health, thus expanding sexuality discourse beyond disease prevention or sexual dysfunction. However, despite calls for greater coordination of sexual health initiatives by the U.S. Surgeon General (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002; Satcher, 2013 ), progress towards sexual positivity and sexuality as a component of well-being has been hampered by social constraints, stigma, and moralistic concerns (Ford et al., 2017). Further, as articulated in the WHO’s current working definition, sexual health is:

…a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences , free of coercion, discrimination and violence. ( WHO, 2002 ) (Emphasis added).

The World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) elevated the importance of sex positivity and pleasure even higher, officially declaring sexual pleasure integral to sexual health, holistic health, and overall well-being ( WAS, 2019 ).

Remarkably, HIV prevention research and discussions of sexual pleasure do not ordinarily intersect, despite this substantial body of research connecting sexual satisfaction with overall well-being and improved health outcomes. The medicalization of HIV prevention has been soundly criticized by some as bereft of sexuality and pleasure, framing sexual behavior in terms of risk and barely considering sexual acts themselves as part of the human drive for pleasure, connection, intimacy, self-discovery, and even adventure ( Auerbach & Hoppe, 2015 ; Calabrese & Underhill, 2015 ; Race, 2015). Public health researchers have endorsed advocating for rights to sexual pleasure as a matter of well-being for all sexual orientations ( Boone & Bowleg, 2020 ; Gruskin & Kismodi, 2020 ; Landers & Kapadia; 2020 ; Pitts & Greene, 2020 ). The right to sexual pleasure includes being “sex positive,” acknowledging broad sexual diversity in activities, orientation, and practices. In short, sexual pleasure in and of itself, distinct from the biological effects of physical stimulation, may improve well-being psychologically, mentally, and physically. Entitlement to sexual pleasure should be recognized as a right of sexual minority men, which can be substantially benefited by access to PrEP ( Boone & Bowleg, 2020 ).

To assess the state of the science and guide future research, we conducted a systematic review of research examining sexual pleasure as it relates to PrEP use. Our aim was to synthesize qualitative and quantitative studies examining PrEP motivations and benefits, focusing on enhanced sexuality, sexual pleasure, sexual quality, sexual satisfaction, and sexual experiences. Our approach was directed toward gaining a broader understanding of the extent to which sexual pleasure and PrEP are related, and to better understand the extent to which framing messages about sexual pleasure and PrEP could increase both uptake and adherence.

Search Strategy

A systematic literature review was conducted by searching PubMed, Academic Search Premier, American Psychological Association (APA) PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases to identify peer-reviewed articles examining PrEP use and sexual pleasure in accordance with updated PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2020). Searches combined the following terms: PrEP OR preexposure prophylaxis OR pre-exposure prophylaxis AND pleasure OR satisfaction OR sexual quality OR sexual well-being OR sexual wellbeing OR intimacy OR intimate relationships. Our search was limited to English language articles involving human participants. Articles were located through September 15, 2020, with no publication date restriction in order to conduct the most comprehensive review possible. References in articles selected for potential inclusion were also reviewed, and the Google Scholar database was used to check citations for additional articles. The combined search of the databases and additional sources yielded 505 records. The 505 records found were screened by title for inclusionary criteria, resulting in 110 abstracts to be reviewed. Inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, peer reviewed studies, PrEP and sexual pleasure specifically or substantively examined in the results analyzed. Review of the 112 abstracts resulted in 45 records excluded either because they were literature reviews, essays, or commentaries (9); stigma focused (6); or pleasure was not a significant focus (30). Thereafter, 67 articles were fully reviewed, resulting in 16 articles being chosen for final inclusion; one study of women was excluded from formal review as the themes were distinct from those expressed by men. Reasons for exclusion of 51 full text articles were: essays, theoretical, commentary or not peer-reviewed (18); not substantively focused on pleasure (18); stigma focused (9); non-English (1); not PrEP (2); examined drug use with sex (2); and no male participants (1). A revised version of the PRISMA 2009 Flow Diagram was used to illustrate the search, review, inclusion, and exclusion process ( Moher et al., 2009 ) ( Figure 1 ).

PRISMA Flow Diagram of Studies Examining Pleasure, Sexual Satisfaction, and PrEP.

Because most of the included studies were either qualitative or mixed methods, the initial stage of data extraction involved discerning themes emerging across studies and then assessing those themes with the quantitative data, undertaken by the first author, and confirmed after independent analysis by the second first author. Table 1 synthesizes the data from all of the studies to examine study and participant characteristics, design, emergent themes, and findings. The studies were reviewed by both first authors for quality using the MMAT for coding purposes ( Hong et al., 2018 ); all of the included studies were determined to range from excellent to acceptable quality, with no studies falling into the low-quality category.

Overview of Reviewed Studies

NR: Not Reported; MSM: men who have sex with men; IOS: inclusion of self in others; CAS: condomless anal sex; PLWH: people living with HIV

Study Characteristics

Table 1 describes the study and participant characteristics, design, recurring themes regarding PrEP, and main findings. Two of the studies were exclusively quantitative; 10 studies were exclusively qualitative, involving interviews (7), focus groups (1), a combination (1), or text analysis (1); and four studies used mixed methods. Studies were conducted in eight countries: U.S., Canada, Eswatini, France, Uganda, England, Australia, and Belgium. The majority of studies elicited the experiences of gay or bisexual MSM (14), whereas two studies analyzed text or interviewed both men and women. There were 2,658 unique participants; 2,612 men (2 identified as transgender), 512 who were qualitatively assessed; 43 women, all qualitatively assessed; and 3 transgender women. Most of the studies had racially diverse participants (11); two studies only enrolled individuals identifying as Black, and three studies did not report racial or ethnic information. All 16 studies collected sexual orientation information and had a majority of gay or bisexual MSM participants. Five studies were conducted as part of larger PrEP demonstration projects. Seven studies examined only PrEP users, three studies examined only non-PrEP users, and the remainder (6) included a mix of PrEP adopters and non-PrEP adopters. Five studies specifically examined MSM in partnered relationships; however, only two studies ( Malone et al., 2018 ; Nakku-Joloba et al., 2019 ), assessed both partners in a couple.

In the aggregate, both the quantitative and qualitative studies reviewed lend support for viewing the interaction between PrEP and sexual pleasure through two lenses: what PrEP has added to the sexual lives of persons on PrEP or can potentially add, and what PrEP has taken away. Using these lenses, several common themes emerged across the studies which we present in our results: PrEP as increasing intimacy, PrEP as increasing sexual options, PrEP as removing barriers to physical closeness, and PrEP as reducing sexual anxiety and fears.

PrEP as Increasing Intimacy

Studies involving primarily partnered individuals ( Gamarel & Golub, 2015 ; Malone et al., 2018 ; Nakku-Joloba et al., 2019 ) as well as studies including MSM engaging in casual sexual encounters ( Collins et al., 2017 ) found that desire for greater intimacy motivated willingness to adopt PrEP, distinct from simply removing a physical barrier (e.g., condom) to closeness. In Gamarel and Golub’s (2015) surveys of HIV-negative MSM in New York City in committed relationships, motivations to improve intimacy predicted PrEP adoption willingness. Indeed, the hypothesized association between the physical motivation for condomless sex and willingness to use PrEP was not supported in the Gamarel and Golub (2015) study. Notably, in a subsequent study, Gamarel and Golub (2019) found individuals who desired more closeness in their relationship were more likely to adopt PrEP. Intimacy motivations were also expressed by single men, with one participant commenting, “[I]t’s also just not having a condom on – it’s just so much more intimate that I’m actually giving my body to somebody and letting them cum inside me” ( Collins et al., 2017 , p. 59).

PrEP as Increasing Sexual Options

Many participants referred to PrEP as sexually liberating, allowing a broader possibility of sexual partners, including HIV positive persons ( Collins et al., 2017 ; Quinn et al., 2020 ), alleviating fear around receptive sexual positions ( Hughes et al., 2018 ; Mabire et al., 2019 ; Reyniers et al., 2020 ), and expanding the range of sexual activities that can be engaged in at clubs and parties ( Grace et al., 2018 ; Harrington et al., 2020 ). As one MSM participant reflected, “Sex isn’t meant to be something you’re ashamed or fearful of…now that I can have bareback sex again, it’s just fantastic. Sex has been liberating again thanks to PrEP” ( Grace et al., 2018 , p. 26). Another Black MSM spoke of his new sexual freedom on PrEP as a “get out of jail free card” making him feel sexier as a partner ( Quinn et al., 2020 , p. 1382). Akin to liberation is the sexual empowerment expressed by MSM on PrEP, allowing individuals to define their own levels of acceptable risk and to responsibly practice safety in the context of sexual behaviors ( DaSilva-Brandao & Iannni, 2020 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ; Malone et al., 2018 ; Philpot et al., 2020 ; Skinta et al., 2020 ).

PrEP as Removing Barriers to Physical Closeness

Sexual pleasure can be separated into physical pleasure and emotional intimacy. Likewise, sexual satisfaction goals include satisfying both physical and emotional needs and desires ( Gamarel & Golub, 2020 ). Condom use is still often recommended for people using PrEP, as it does not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, condoms may not always be utilized as for many, HIV prevention is the primary concern, particularly for HIV serodiscordant couples in committed monogamous relationships. In the literal sense, by eliminating the necessity to use condoms to protect against HIV transmission, PrEP removes a physical barrier to sexual pleasure, thereby increasing physical sexual satisfaction ( Mabire et al., 2019 ). Condoms are experienced as “totally different from skin,” skin being preferred (p. 6). Men also discussed the awkwardness of condoms; including putting them on, maintaining an erection, and worry over whether a condom stayed on and intact during sexual intercourse. Several remarked how PrEP removed these negative thoughts when engaging in sexual activities. Couples in committed relationships referred to PrEP as allowing them to return to “live sex”, despite being in a serodiscordant relationship ( Nakku-Joloba et al., 2019 ). Comments culled from a Facebook discussion group of gay and bisexual MSM reflected that sex on PrEP was seen as more natural, providing deeper sensation than sex with condoms ( DaSilva-Brandao & Iannni, 2020 ). In one study, PrEP adoption was associated with higher sexual satisfaction scores for MSM in relationships ( Gamarel & Golub, 2020 ).

PrEP as Reducing Sexual Anxiety and Fears

Hand in hand with sexual satisfaction, reducing sexual anxiety and fear was expressed by many participants as a motivation for PrEP use, as a specter of HIV risk hovered over many sexual encounters, inhibiting the sexual experience ( Collins et al., 2017 ; Harrington et al., 2020 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ; Philpot et al., 2020 ; Quinn et al., 2020 ). In a longitudinal study of gay and bisexual MSM ( Whitfield et al., 2019 ), PrEP status significantly predicted lower sexual anxiety compared to periods when not on PrEP. Although this study did not find PrEP status predicted sexual satisfaction, PrEP’s role in relieving the psychological barriers to sexual pleasure cannot be underestimated, as it threaded through most of the studies and reflections of PrEP users. As one MSM said, “You know, sexuality is your core, and it only makes sense that when that’s freer – I kind of refer to it as a second coming out” ( Collins et al., 2017 , p. 60). An older gay man reflected, “Who wants to be intimate with somebody and be in a state of terror? You know? You’re not giving your all” ( Hughes et al., 2018 , p. 394). For heterosexual couples, PrEP reduced fear in their relationships, making sexual intercourse less fraught with risk for the couple and opening the door to having children ( Nakku-Joloba et al., 2019 ). In short, PrEP can transform “sex=risk” to “sex=pleasure” ( DaSilva-Brandao & Iannni, 2020 ).

Our systematic review of 16 studies examining PrEP use and sexual pleasure found that among MSM, PrEP use increased intimacy and options for sexual partners, sexual positions, and sexual activities; and reduced barriers to physical closeness, and anxiety and fears surrounding HIV transmission during intercourse. In HIV prevention, PrEP’s role in improving sexual health has been to reduce risk of HIV transmission; however, sexual health is much more than protecting against risk. Gamarel and Golub (2020) suggested that intimacy goals and sexual health goals are often intertwined, as connection achieved through sexual experience while on PrEP can enhance the relationship. These findings are in line with WHO’s current working definition of sexual health as encompassing “ the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences,” (WHO, 2002; emphasis added) and WAS’s recognition that sexual pleasure is integral to sexual health, holistic health, and overall well-being ( WAS, 2019 ). A recent essay published in The Lancet ( Mitchell et al., 2021 ) has echoed these sentiments, calling sexual pleasure “distinctly relevant” to public health as it impacts diverse physical, psychological, and cultural outcomes. The reviewed studies reveal that MSM and other PrEP users experience their sexuality holistically as well, expressing the sexual freedom afforded by PrEP, whether by increasing intimacy or sexual diversity, reducing barriers to physical closeness, or reducing anxiety. PrEP messages to encourage uptake and adherence should consider these findings.

One theme in many of the reviewed studies was the control that PrEP affords over pleasure, and not solely over risk, whether framed as increasing options or reducing HIV anxiety. The synthesized findings in this review are consistent with studies finding that the use of PrEP was associated with reduced anxiety in MSM ( Keen et al., 2020 ). As Race (2016) remarked, HIV prevention efforts have failed to acknowledge that sexual activities are intended to be pleasurable, targeting sexual risk behaviors as if sex is merely an activity like climbing, and evaluated based on risk rather than sexual connection between human beings with needs and desires. Defining sexual behaviors between MSM using terms such as sexual risk ignores the right to sexual pleasure, the desire for which was evident in the reviewed studies ( Granta & Koesterb, 2016 ; Snowden et al., 2016 ). This right to sexual pleasure goes hand in hand with a right to sexual intimacy, as many participants in MSM relationships valued connection and closeness at least as much as physical pleasure.

A pertinent clarification emerging from the data was the extent to which PrEP has opened the door to risk compensation and whether the potential of risk compensation behaviors would offset gains to PrEP uptake through promoting sexual pleasure. Before PrEP and other recent biomedical advances, condoms were the most effective means of preventing HIV transmission during intercourse, and are still the most effective means of STI prevention. However, consistent with our results, research has found decreases in condom use as many feel that condoms act as a physical barrier to closeness with their sexual partners ( Paz-Bailey et al., 2016 ; Smith et al., 2015 ) diminishing feelings of intimacy and pleasure ( Fennell, 2014 ; Mabire et al., 2019 ), despite recent advances in condom technology creating more pleasurable condom designs. Although MSM reported associating PrEP with a desire for condomless anal sex (CAS), these statements were often made against the backdrop of persons acknowledging inconsistent condom use, viewing PrEP as making CAS less risky and not necessarily increasing the occurrence of CAS when on PrEP ( Collins et al., 2017 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ). For many persons, although condom use behaviors changed to some degree, PrEP was not seen as a means to eliminate condoms entirely ( Harrington et al., 2020 ). Other PrEP users stated that for them “HIV is the only significant STI”, and that they evaluated the risk of CAS as acceptable in certain situations, since “funerals are not held for chlamydia” ( DaSilva-Brandao & Iannni, 2020 , p. 1408). For many PrEP users, the decision to engage in CAS was a reflection of their individual risk perception toward other STIs, seen as extremely prevalent while at the same time easily treatable ( Reyniers et al., 2020 ). Although engaging in CAS or more “adventurous” sexual behaviors while on PrEP may increase risk of STIs, the greater perception of sexual pleasure without condoms is a substantial motivator for PrEP adoption and thus may increase uptake and adherence ( Prestage et al., 2019 ). In addition, open sexual agreements allowing casual sex with outside partners can increase HIV risk for the partnered couple, potentially negatively impacting trust and intimacy. Although negotiated safety agreements have been found to be effective for some partnered MSM ( Jin et al., 2009 ), for those not diligently practicing HIV prevention techniques such as negotiated safety, U=U, or TasP, this risk can be obviated when PrEP is adopted, as PrEP mitigates risk when an agreement is broken or a “slip up” happens ( Malone et al., 2018 ).

Pleasure-focused PrEP messaging could improve the sex lives of MSM by blunting the stigma around the sexual behaviors of sexual minorities ( Grace et al., 2018 ; Sun et al., 2019 ). Although not the focus of this review, HIV and PrEP stigma were referenced in many of the studies, notably in the qualitative responses of MSM ( Collins, 2017 ; Philpott, 2020 ; Quinn et al., 2020 ). Openly promoting PrEP as enhancing sexual pleasure and positively depicting sex among MSM could chip away at the social norms that sanction only heterosexual sex or sex with condoms, which negatively stereotypes casual sex, club sex, and barebacking ( Dubov et al., 2018 ; Knight et al., 2016 ; Marcus & Gillis, 2017 ; Schnarrs et al., 2018 ). In short, shifting the language surrounding PrEP from risk to pleasure has the potential to erase the line between “acceptable” and “unacceptable” consensual sex, reduce the negativity surrounding promiscuity, and stamp all sex - whether casual or committed - as equally safe ( Auerbach & Hoppe, 2015 ; Marcus & Snowden, 2020 ). While framing safe sex using a pleasure-focused lens is not new, as evidenced by Knerr and Philpott’s work on the Pleasure Project (2006 , 2009 ), PrEP’s effectiveness provides a unique opportunity to simultaneously reduce HIV risk and increase pleasure.

This review systematically examined the relationship between PrEP and pleasure, including both quantitative and qualitative studies, enabling a richer understanding of personal experiences and perceptions which provides support for novel ideas for effective messaging to increase PrEP uptake among sexual minorities. Notably, one limitation of this review was the small number of included studies that directly examined sexual satisfaction, sexual quality, or sexual pleasure. However, in several of the reviewed studies, themes of sexual pleasure were included among many topics discussed by participants. Moreover, while the results of this review can be generalizable to a wide variety of individuals who are on or interested in PrEP, it’s results may not be applicable to individuals who use other effective HIV prevention methods, including negotiated safety, U=U, or TasP. We chose to focus exclusively on PrEP for this review as each of the other strategies have their own limitations, often requiring negotiation or trusted open communication with sexual partners, whereas PrEP allows individuals to protect themselves from HIV whether partnered or engaging in casual sex. Included studies in this review examining PrEP and intimacy involved individuals who were not in relationships, thus considering intimacy outside of partnered or committed relationships.

Several studies outside of the time parameters of this review have recently been published that confirm that sexual satisfaction and sexual pleasure messaging could provide an effective avenue for increasing PrEP uptake and adherence. In their large online survey of 7,639 sexually active respondents, Marcus et al. (2021) found that PrEP users reported higher sexual satisfaction generally, with higher scores on specific components such as sexual sensations, sexual presence, and sexual variety. In their clinic-based study of PrEP users in Providence and Boston, Montgomery et al. (2021) found that sexual satisfaction scores significantly increased for MSM after PrEP uptake. In a focus group study conducted in France by Puppo et al. (2020) , all 38 participants expressed increased sexual quality after being on PrEP. Zimmerman et al.’s (2021) interviews of 64 participants who were part of the larger AMPrEP demonstration project similarly found that PrEP users experienced more sexual diversity and sexual quality, although some persons reported increased preoccupation with sex and drug use. The psychological benefits of improved sexual quality and sexual expression after PrEP uptake was found by Van Dijk et al. (2021) in their survey of PrEP users in the Netherlands.

Further, while several authors have discussed incorporating sexual pleasure in HIV prevention messaging, the effectiveness of this messaging has yet to be tested beyond the #PrEP4Love campaign targeted at a younger population ( Dehlin et al., 2019 ; Keene et al., 2020 ). Pleasure-oriented messaging should target middle and older adults, as contrary to social presumptions of asexuality, these populations remain sexually active well into late adulthood ( Sinkovic & Towler, 2019 ). In addition, more studies should interview all partners in relationships; whether in dyads, triads, or other configurations, to better understand receptivity to overt pleasure messaging in terms of physical sensation, intimacy, sexual exploration, and reduced sexual anxiety. Finally, a systematic review studying the barriers and facilitators of PrEP among MSM conducted by Hannaford et al. (2017) included search terms such as stigma, social stigma, and awareness and attitudes, but not sexual pleasure, sexual satisfaction or sexual quality, thus making this work a unique contribution to the field.

In conclusion, the present review adds to the understanding of a potential facilitator of PrEP uptake: sexual pleasure. Advocating for sexual pleasure in the lives of persons at risk for HIV may require the re-education of health care professionals, whose stigmatized views toward PrEP and PrEP users have also been cited as barriers to PrEP access and uptake ( Calabrese et al., 2019 ; Devarajan et al., 2020 ). The results from this review suggest that future research should explore receptiveness toward explicit pleasure-based messages within sexual minorities, single MSM, couples, other relationship dynamics, and health care professionals. It is high time for HIV researchers to frame sex, sexual satisfaction, and sexual pleasure as valid objectives for persons of all sexual orientations and identities.

Acknowledgements:

The authors have no acknowledgements to mention.

The first two authors should be considered co-authors on this manuscript.

Source of Funding:

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health under grant T32MH074387-15

Declaration of Interest Statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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• Open access
• Published: 02 March 2024

The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure: protocol for a scoping review

• Manuel Mello   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4843-1817 1 ,
• Martina Fusaro 2 &
• Salvatore Maria Aglioti 1 , 2  

Systematic Reviews volume  13 , Article number:  82 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure and positive affect is an emergent, scarcely addressed topic. The main aim of this scoping review is to map the impact of this new research domain on the field of social and affective neuroscience.

Introduction

Most of the literature on empathy and affect sharing has hitherto focused on negative emotions, with a special focus on pain. However, understanding, sharing, and reacting to others’ pleasures is an evolutionarily and socially important function. Our scoping review addresses this gap in the literature and tries to unify the available information under the empathy for pleasure umbrella.

Inclusion criteria

This scoping review is intended to cover studies on empathy for positive emotions, pleasant sensory outcomes, and other rewards in healthy individuals and neurological/neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders populations.

We will perform a systematic search in the Medline (PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS) databases. Two authors will independently screen all titles, abstracts, and then full-text articles that meet the inclusion criteria. The year range of interest will be 2000–2022, and only journal articles published in English will be assessed. Data will be extracted and presented in tables and/or graphical representations to synthesize and describe the results. The extracted data will be reported in a comprehensive summary.

The final manuscript is intended for submission to an indexed journal in late 2023/beginning 2024.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, the present scoping review will be the first to address the variety and heterogeneity of available evidence on human empathy for pleasure. We ultimately aim at perusing the growing literature on this far-reaching field of study and informing future research.

Systematic review registration

The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure: Protocol for a scoping review.  https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/W7H6J . (December 27, 2022).

Peer Review reports

Strengths and limitations of this study

We will describe and summarize existing neuroscientific evidence on human empathy for pleasure.

The “empathy for pleasure” umbrella term will be used to group various related concepts, such as positive empathy, vicarious joy, empathic joy, and empathic happiness.

By utilizing a three-factor categorization in our data analysis step, we plan to systematize this field of study.

Our description and categorization of neuroscientific studies on human empathy for pleasure might not be exhaustive.

Empathy, the ability to vicariously share and understand others’ emotions and sensations, is quintessential to social species, including humans [ 4 , 5 , 18 ]. The past couple of decades have witnessed an exponential growth of neuroscientific studies on this topic, originating not only from a pure interest in comprehending what makes us a well-functioning social species, but also in examining the behavioral consequences and neural underpinnings of sharing others’ emotions, and how this might be applied for making this world a better place [ 6 ]. However, most of the neuroscience literature has hitherto focused on the behavioral and neural correlates of empathizing with others’ negative emotions, and in particular pain [ 7 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Focusing on negative emotions provided novel, key findings, yet neglected the other side of the empathy spectrum, scilicet empathy for pleasure. In fact, empathizing with others’ pleasurable outcomes is an evolutionarily and socially relevant process [ 13 , 14 , 22 ], and it should be given the appropriate scientific attention. If done systematically, we believe this will benefit not only basic research about how the human mind works but also research aimed at exploring breakdowns of empathy in neuro-psychiatric disorders, which are, to date, mostly focusing on negative empathy.

A momentous attempt to fill the gap is the review by Morelli and colleagues [ 13 , 14 ], who have set the stage for the investigation of positive empathy, defined as “understanding and vicariously sharing others’ positive emotions” ([ 13 , 14 ], p. 58). However, as also argued by the authors themselves ( ibidem ), being an extremely recent construct, positive empathy shares theoretical features with other concepts [ 13 , 14 ]. This is clear when one acknowledges the different terms that have been associated with the sharing of others’ positive emotions or outcomes, such as vicarious reward [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], empathic joy [ 3 ], and empathic happiness [ 9 , 10 , 21 ]. Moreover, certain types of rewards experienced by others have been seldomly examined from a neuroscientific standpoint — but see [ 13 , 14 ] for a comprehensive meta-analysis of personal and vicarious reward studies. For instance, it is currently unexplored, and thus unclear, what are the common and distinct features — at the neural level — of empathizing with others’ discrete emotions (e.g., happiness), sensory gratification (e.g., pleasant touch), or other incentives (e.g., monetary and social rewards). While studies have provided early evidence of the neural correlates of some of these processes, the heterogeneity of conceptualizations and the disconnectedness among the various sources hurdled the emergence of a coherent field of study. At this stage then, it is necessary to assess the type of available evidence to try and clarify working definitions and conceptual boundaries of the topic. Importantly, we try and do this by introducing the concept of empathy for pleasure as an umbrella construct that comprises instances where an individual empathizes with a target’s emotion, feeling, or outcome that is evaluated to be pleasant for them.

Tricco and colleagues [ 24 ] state that, differently from systematic reviews, scoping reviews “are used to present a broad overview of the evidence pertaining to a topic, irrespective of study quality, and are useful when examining areas that are emerging, to clarify key concepts and identify gaps” ([ 24 ], p. 2). Thus, we believe this knowledge synthesis approach to be the most appropriate to examine, summarize, and describe the available evidence on the potentially crucial topic of empathy for pleasure that, however, has to be considered still in its infancy. We plan to map the foundational concepts of this research area and the main sources and types of evidence available, thus allowing future researchers to frame their work on the topic with the aim to define the relevant theoretical and conceptual backgrounds.

A preliminary search of Scopus, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was conducted on the 29th of December 2022 by M. Mello. In this preliminary search, no current or ongoing scoping reviews on the same subject were identified.

Review questions

According to Arksey and O’Malley [ 1 ], the first stage when conducting a scoping review (as well as other types of knowledge synthesis) is to define the review (research) questions, as this is essential when considering what kind of search strategies to implement. Based on the aims stated in the Introduction, the following review questions will be addressed:

What type of neuroscientific evidence about human empathy for pleasure is available?

Can we easily clarify working definitions and conceptual boundaries of this research field?

What are, at the neural level, the common features of empathizing with different types of rewards?

What are, at the neural level, the distinct features of empathizing with different types of rewards?

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria were established by referring to the population, concept, and context framework. Studies will be selected in accordance with the following criteria.

Participants

This scoping review is intended to cover studies on empathy for positive emotions, pleasant sensory gratifications, and other rewards in healthy individuals, i.e., with no formal diagnosis of any neurological and/or psychiatric condition, and in people affected by neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. When the available literature will allow us to do so, we will focus our discussion on specific subgroups of conditions. Evidence on all age groups will be included and discussed separately in our scoping review.

The concepts to be explored in the present scoping review include positive empathy, vicarious reward, empathic joy, empathic happiness, and empathy for pleasure. This scoping review will not take into consideration studies on empathy for negative emotions and conditions, as well as empathy for anxiety [ 20 ] and similar feelings. Furthermore, we will exclude studies focusing on concepts that are related to, but not coincident with, empathy for pleasure, such as positive affect, warm glow, and perceived positive empathy [ 13 , 14 ].

This review will consider studies conducted in any context and geographical location.

Types of sources

This scoping review will mainly consider peer-reviewed experimental studies within the fields of cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience in healthy and neurological and neuropsychiatric patients. Moreover, it will consider conference articles only when peer-reviewed. As one of the main aims of this scoping review is to shed light on the neural correlates of empathy for pleasure, it will focus on works based on functional neuroimaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electro-/magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG), but it will also consider non-invasive brain stimulation studies (e.g., based on transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, transcranial electrical stimulation, TES, focal ultrasound stimulation, FUS). In addition, systematic reviews/meta-analyses that meet the inclusion criteria will also be scrutinized for useful evidence, depending on their research questions.

The present review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews [ 16 , 17 ]. It was designed and will be conducted in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) framework [ 23 ]. The objectives, inclusion criteria, and methods for this scoping review were specified in advance and documented on Open Sciences Framework registries https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/W7H6J .

Search strategy

An initial limited search of Scopus was undertaken to identify articles on the topic. The text words contained in the titles and abstracts of relevant articles, and the index terms used to describe the articles were used to develop a full search strategy (see Table 1 in Appendix  1 ). This consisted of two main parts joined together by Boolean operators: the first restricted the search to studies on empathy and vicarious experiences; the second focused on positive experiences (using all the related terms we found in the initial search and/or we knew were relevant). Thus, our strategy considered synonyms and related terms, used Boolean operators, and explored Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. The search strategy, including all identified keywords and index terms, will be adapted for each included database and/or information source. The reference list of all included sources of evidence will be screened for additional studies. Boolean operators (i.e., “OR” and “AND”) will be used to combine and refine search terms and concepts.

Studies published in English since January 2000 will be included. The databases to be searched include Scopus, MEDLINE (PubMed), ScienceDirect, and Web of Science.

Study/source of evidence selection

Following the search, all identified citations will be collated and uploaded into Zotero and duplicates removed. Following a pilot test, titles and abstracts will then be screened by M. Mello for assessment against the inclusion criteria for the review.

Following this initial evaluation of all citations, a second assessment will be carried out by M. Mello and M. Fusaro. Screening differences will be resolved between the two researchers, and in cases where an agreement cannot be reached, a senior researcher will be consulted (S. M. Aglioti). Potentially relevant sources will be retrieved in full, and their citation details imported into Zotero. The full text of selected citations will be assessed in detail against the inclusion criteria by the two independent reviewers. Reasons for exclusion of sources of evidence at full text that do not meet the inclusion criteria will be recorded and reported in the scoping review. Any disagreements that arise between the search products assessors at each stage of the selection process will be resolved through discussion, or with one or more additional assessor/s. The results of the search and the study inclusion process will be reported in full in the final scoping review.

The results of the search will be reported in full and presented in a PRISMA-ScR flow diagram [ 23 ].

Data extraction

Data will be extracted from papers included in the scoping review by two independent assessors using a data extraction tool developed by the reviewers. The extracted data will include some standard information (such as author/s, year of publication, study objectives) as well as specific details about the participants, concepts, and context. To this aim, a data charting table will be developed and piloted at the protocol stage. A draft of this tool is provided in Table 2 in Appendix 2 , and it consists of minor revisions to the original JBI template [ 17 ].

Moreover, we will categorize the extracted data according to three main factors:

Type of “pleasure” the study participants empathize with:

Social/affiliative reward

Positive affect

Sensory event

Monetary reward

Type of neuroscientific methodology utilized

fMRI/functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)

Non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS, TES, FUS)

Intracranial brain stimulation

Type of study sample

Healthy participants

People affected by neurological disorders

People affected by psychiatric disorders

People with neurodevelopmental disorders

This categorization will be included in a separate table (see Table 3 in Appendix 3 ). The draft data charting tools will be modified and revised as necessary during the process of extracting data from each included evidence source. Modifications will be detailed in the scoping review. Any disagreements that may arise between the assessors will be resolved through discussion, or by enlisting the advice of one or more additional assessor/s. If appropriate, authors of papers will be contacted to request missing or additional data, where required.

Data analysis and presentation

The primary aims of a scoping review are mapping the key concepts underlying a field of study, clarifying its working definitions and conceptual boundaries, and ultimately providing an overview of the available evidence. Based on this, the analysis of the extracted data will consist in aggregating, qualitatively evaluating, and describing the findings of the included studies. Thematic analysis will be conducted to provide an overview of qualitative data relating to the types of pleasant outcome the study participants empathize with and the type of neuroscientific methodology utilized.

The extracted and analyzed data will be presented in a tabular/graphical format that is congruent with the scoping review’s proposed research questions. The tabulated or charted data will be accompanied by a summary, a synthesis, and a discussion of the findings.

The full scoping review will be reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR checklist (Additional file 1 ) [ 23 ].

Empathizing with others’ negative emotions is extremely important for social species. Research on empathy for negative emotions, particularly for pain, has resulted in an abundance of studies on the topic [ 4 ]. In contrast, the examination of the cognitive and neural mechanisms of sharing and understanding others’ pleasures has been neglected. There is, however, no scientific or theoretical reason why empathizing with others’ positive emotions is not important for interpersonal functioning [ 19 ]. In fact, early evidence suggests that also positive empathy is highly relevant from an evolutionary and social point of view, as it is associated with increased positive affect, well-being, and prosocial behavior [ 13 , 14 , 22 ]. For instance, Morelli and colleagues [ 12 ] found that sensitivity to personal reward or reward to a close friend correlated with individuals’ psychological well-being. Particularly interesting, from a social neuroscience perspective, is the link between positive empathy and prosocial behavior: as Telle and Pfister [ 22 ] describe, the positive affect experience originating from sharing others’ positive emotions, that people generally desire to maintain, can promote prosocial behavior, which, in turn, serves to preserve the positive affective state [ 22 ].

This scoping review will provide an overview of the available neuroscientific evidence on human empathy for pleasure. The aims we set out to achieve include mapping the key concepts underlying this emergent field of research and clarifying its working definitions and conceptual boundaries. We will do this by providing an overview of the existing evidence and by answering questions regarding its heterogeneity and, ultimately, by emphasizing the gaps in the literature on this topic.

Thus, we will hopefully provide new insights on this field of research, sparking researchers’ interest and informing future studies.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Web of Science

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

Electroencephalography

Magnetoencephalography

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Transcranial electrical stimulation

Focal ultrasound stimulation

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Acknowledgements

The present work was funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant 2017 awarded to Salvatore Maria Aglioti (grant number ERC-2017-AdG – eHONESTY – 789058) and by an Italian Ministry of Health Ricerca Finalizzata, Giovani Ricercatori 2019 (n◦ GR 2019–12369761) awarded to Martina Fusaro.

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M. Mello, M. Fusaro, and S. M. Aglioti conceived the review. M. Mello wrote the manuscript, performed the initial literature search, and created the data extraction tools. M. Fusaro and S. M. Aglioti reviewed the manuscript and the data extraction tools.

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Mello, M., Fusaro, M. & Aglioti, S.M. The neuroscience of human empathy for pleasure: protocol for a scoping review. Syst Rev 13 , 82 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-024-02481-9

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Reading For Pleasure: A research overview

Added 01 Nov 2006 | Updated 21 Sep 17

Read our review of the existing literature that explores reading for pleasure, its importance and its impact on literacy attainment and other outcomes. Although the Rose Review placed phonics firmly within a language-rich framework that fosters positive attitudes towards reading and a love of books, this context was lost in the subsequent press coverage.

It therefore seemed important to collect evidence that furthers our understanding of the value of reading for pleasure and to provide information that will enable parents, teachers and policymakers to promote reading motivation and wider reading. As part of the discussion, this paper also delves into different types of motivation and the impact they have on literacy behaviour and learning.

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Children’s perspectives on reading for pleasure: What can we learn from them and how can we adapt our practice accordingly?

• Teacher Reflection
• Published on: September 14, 2020

• Extra curricular |
• Language and literacy |
• Learning environment |
• Professional learning |
• Research Engagement |
• Research methods

Alice Reedy, Teacher, Kaizen Primary School (Part of East London Research School), UK

There is a broad range of existing research dedicated to the subject of reading for pleasure and the advocacy of engaging in this activity as a key factor in children’s educational development, both academic and social (Sainsbury and Schagen, 2004; Petscher, 2010; Sullivan and Brown, 2015; Whitten et al., 2016; Clark and Teravainen, 2017; DfE Department for Education - a ministerial department responsi... More , 2017). Policymakers and researchers seem to have reached a consensus that reading for pleasure has a significant positive impact on a child’s future life chances in terms of educational success; the OECD report ‘Reading for change’ (2002) goes as far as to suggest that said impact is more important in indicating the future academic success of a child than their socioeconomic background and can also have a positive impact on a child’s future social mobility.

As educators, we are therefore professionally and morally obligated by the strength and wealth of this research to consider how to develop our own practice to ensure that we are appropriately supporting and encouraging students’ enjoyment of reading and likelihood to engage in reading of their own volition. If developing students’ engagement in reading for pleasure could potentially help them to overcome their socioeconomic disadvantage, then this is an area that should be prioritised. The questions that arise, then, are how do we best support reading for pleasure and how do we overcome the existing barriers that may be discouraging children from participating in this activity? As a newly appointed English lead, I felt especially motivated to explore any potential strategies that might emerge as a result of investigating these questions.

I consequently carried out a small-scale case study using a mixed-method approach of questionnaires and focus group interviews with selected students in my educational setting – a two-form primary school in the London borough of Newham. The school’s most recent 2015 Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services... More report noted that ‘most pupils are economically disadvantaged and are supported by Pupil Premium’ (Ofsted, 2015, p. 3). I then used thematic analysis to identify the most prominent themes and ideas from the students’ discussions with the researcher. The themes that were identified as part of this data analysis are shown in Figure 1. This methodological approach was effective in yielding rich qualitative data for analysis, but limited in the generalisability of the data to a wider population.

The transcripts of the two interviews and the resulting analysis demonstrated that the most prevalent theme was the students’ desire to have increased independent choice over their reading material, rather than having this prescribed or dictated to them by adults. The students indicated their desire to have an input in the range of reading material provided by the school, as well as being given sufficient opportunity and freedom to select from this material. They suggested that this was not something they felt was currently happening in the school. This data reflected much of the literature I had previously engaged with, such as Cremin et al. (2014), Drage (2017) and the Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement (2016), all of whom suggest that a key barrier to reading for pleasure in school may be the lack of children’s autonomy and choice over their own reading material, or even the lack of options of reading material available overall. A significant practical outcome of this research, particularly Cremin’s, has been the development of the Research Rich Pedagogies website (researchrichpedagogies.org), which identifies the practical strands within an effective reading for pleasure pedagogy, one of which states that children should ‘control more of their own reading and exercise their rights as readers’ (The Open University, nd).

The interviews indicated that children felt that they were being given limited opportunities by their teachers to choose their own reading materials. It was therefore important to disseminate both this finding and the wider research around agency and reading in order to best support staff to develop a pedagogy that supports reading for pleasure. Therefore, the following strategies were implemented:

• Teachers were given full training, where they engaged with the research and were provided with guidance in ensuring that all students are given sufficient time, space and freedom to choose their own reading material, undirected or restricted by adult recommendations
• Students were given the opportunity to decide on new texts for their class reading corners and were also encouraged to design and redecorate the areas themselves
• In order to facilitate more opportunities for children to choose their own reading material, from a broader range of texts, a new and attractive container for a school library was obtained, the stock and design of which were largely informed by the students
• A school-wide survey was used to inform the stocking of the new school library, ensuring that a large selection of the books had been selected by the students themselves
• A school-wide competition was launched to design the library itself, and the winners took part in the decoration of the new building, providing another chance for children to take ownership of their reading environment
• Regular opportunities were introduced for all students and parents to access the new library and have sufficient time for independent browsing and borrowing.

The strategies outlined above were implemented in order to develop the culture of reading for pleasure in the school, and although this is a difficult outcome to measure in terms of quantitative data, the impact was notably positive. Library engagement and borrowing rates rose significantly. In the three months between January and March 2019, Junior Librarian software indicated a 32.7 per cent increase in borrowing rates as compared with the previous year. Additionally, staff and student feedback revealed that the new focus on students’ choice, autonomy and contribution was encouraging most students to develop or begin positive, independent relationships with reading. This ethos will therefore continue to underpin future strategies and developments in the school’s approach to reading for pleasure. For example, when additional funds become available for new book purchases, the school council are given responsibility for gaining feedback from their classes concerning what new texts should be purchased, and using this to inform book orders for the library. Pupil feedback is also gathered regularly, focused on how much children feel that they are given sufficient opportunities to read independently and with freedom of choice. As we move forwards, the school will be looking to the other recommendations of the Research Rich Pedagogies website, such as developing social reading environments, to further build on the school’s culture of reading for pleasure.

Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement (2016) Reading for pleasure: Reviewing the evidence. Available at: www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/research/reading-for-pleasure-in-secondary-schools-literature-review.pdf (accessed 13 March 2019).

Clark C and Teravainen A (2017) Celebrating Reading for Enjoyment: Findings from our Annual Literacy Survey 2016 . London: National Literacy Trust.

Cremin T, Mottram M, Powell S et al., (2014) Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for Pleasure . London and NY: Routledge.

Department for Education The ministerial department responsible for children’s serv... More (DfE) (2017) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS): National report for England. Available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664562/PIRLS_2016_National_Report_for_England-_BRANDED.pdf (accessed 13 February 2019).

Drage E (2017) No place for pleasure? Research Rich Pedagogies. Available at: https://researchrichpedagogies.org/recommends/article/no-place-for-pleasure (accessed 12 February 2019).

Ofsted (2015) School report: Kaizen Primary School. Available at: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/2496350 (accessed 28 June 2020).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2002) Reading for change: Performance and engagement across countries. Available at: www.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/33690904.pdf (accessed 25 April 2019).

Petscher Y (2010) A meta‐analysis of the relationship between student attitudes towards reading and achievement in reading. Journal of Research in Reading 33(4): 335–355.

Sainsbury M and Schagen I (2004) Attitudes to reading at ages nine and eleven. Journal of Research in Reading 27(4): 373–386.

Sullivan A and Brown W (2015) Reading for pleasure and progress in vocabulary and mathematics. British Educational Research Journal 41(6): 971–991.

The Open University (nd) Reading for pleasure pedagogy. Available at: https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/theme/reading-for-pleasure-pedagogy (accessed 28 June 2020).

Whitten C, Labby S and Sullivan S (2016) The impact of pleasure reading on academic success . The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research 2(4): 48–64.

A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read!

From this issue

Issue 10: Developing Evidence-informed teaching techniques to support effective learning

Autumn 2020

Impact Articles on the same themes

• Original Research

Effective leadership practices and teacher wellbeing: A review of international evidence

• Perspective Article

Can a collaborative approach to curriculum development aid teacher retention?

Collaborative CPD as a means to improve teacher expertise and retention

Reframing ‘disadvantaged’ as ‘underserved’ in mathematics education professional development design

Promoting effective teacher reflection through collaboration

Could the development of teacher self-efficacy enhance teachers’ own mental health and wellbeing?

Effective professional development at scale

Subject communities: Grow, nurture, sustain

Building a strong foundation: A new head of department’s perspective on professional development for a diverse team of PSHE Educators

‘Being’ a teacher – the impact of teacher identity on self-efficacy and professional development across a career

Pears Pavillion Corum Campus 41 Brunswick Square London WC1N 1AZ

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Constituents of music and visual-art related pleasure – a critical integrative literature review.

• 1 Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Music Research, Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
• 2 Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
• 3 Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Department of Music, Frankfurt, Germany
• 4 Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

The present literature review investigated how pleasure induced by music and visual-art has been conceptually understood in empirical research over the past 20 years. After an initial selection of abstracts from seven databases (keywords: pleasure, reward, enjoyment, and hedonic), twenty music and eleven visual-art papers were systematically compared. The following questions were addressed: (1) What is the role of the keyword in the research question? (2) Is pleasure considered a result of variation in the perceiver’s internal or external attributes? (3) What are the most commonly employed methods and main variables in empirical settings? Based on these questions, our critical integrative analysis aimed to identify which themes and processes emerged as key features for conceptualizing art-induced pleasure. The results demonstrated great variance in how pleasure has been approached: In the music studies pleasure was often a clear object of investigation, whereas in the visual-art studies the term was often embedded into the context of an aesthetic experience, or used otherwise in a descriptive, indirect sense. Music studies often targeted different emotions, their intensity or anhedonia. Biographical and background variables and personality traits of the perceiver were often measured. Next to behavioral methods, a common method was brain imaging which often targeted the reward circuitry of the brain in response to music. Visual-art pleasure was also frequently addressed using brain imaging methods, but the research focused on sensory cortices rather than the reward circuit alone. Compared with music research, visual-art research investigated more frequently pleasure in relation to conscious, cognitive processing, where the variations of stimulus features and the changing of viewing modes were regarded as explanatory factors of the derived experience. Despite valence being frequently applied in both domains, we conclude, that in empirical music research pleasure seems to be part of core affect and hedonic tone modulated by stable personality variables, whereas in visual-art research pleasure is a result of the so called conceptual act depending on a chosen strategy to approach art. We encourage an integration of music and visual-art into to a multi-modal framework to promote a more versatile understanding of pleasure in response to aesthetic artifacts.

Introduction

When considering human behavior in general, striving for pleasure and reward seems to be an integral part of human behavior and a driving force in humans and in animals ( Kringelbach and Berridge, 2010a , b ). Indeed, pleasure, including positive and negative affect, is related to processes crucial for survival and adaptive functions; it is involved in the regulation of procreation, food intake and motivation, also it is considered a core affect in some of the main emotion models ( Russel, 1980 ; Ledoux, 2000 ; Barrett, 2006 ; Nesse, 2012 ). Thus, it seems that we continuously evaluate the sensory input from our environment according to our internal states of needs and desires ( Cabanac, 1971 ). Regarding types of pleasure, Berridge and Kringelbach (2008) separated basic pleasures (sensory and social) from those of higher-order (monetary, artistic, altruistic, musical, and transcendent), considering arts in general as higher-order pleasures. Yet, it has also been suggested that music and visual-art are not restricted to that of the higher-order pleasure. Brattico and Pearce (2013) advocated for a distinction between immediate sensory pleasure and reflective process of enjoyment in regard to music. It also seems to be common to many models of visual-art to integrate low-level feature analysis relying on the visual sensory system (bottom-up) and higher-order ways to give meanings to artworks (top-down) when aiming to explain experiences derived from visual-art ( Pelowski et al., 2016 ). Indeed, already in Fechner’s (1876) “Vorschule der Ästhetik” the research of visual and auditory elements was under the same label of “aesthetics from below,” where the bottom-up mechanisms of music and visual-art were considered eventually to explain the top-down mechanisms of art enjoyment in general. Since then the scientific take on the influence of music and visual-art has not only become broader, causing the fields to split into several smaller sub-disciplines, but the empirical research on music and on visual-art has grown apart, and the term aesthetic experience seems to be more characteristic to the research on objects and artifacts perceived visually ( Hargreaves and North, 2010 ; Brattico et al., 2013 ; Hodges, 2016 ). Despite overlapping research questions, and the assumption that the same components (perception, production, response and interaction) govern both, pleasure derived from music and visual-art, and art appreciation in general ( Chatterjee, 2011 ; Bullot and Reber, 2013 ), empirical research of visual-art and music has had relatively little dialog with each other in the recent years.

Considering the omnipresent audio-visual culture, we live in, we acknowledge that most likely also aesthetic objects, such as music and visual-art, are likely to be integrated into our lives in an interactive loop involving the environment and the derived pleasure and emotions. As already mentioned above, positive and negative affect are known to have adaptive functions, and positive affect in particular has consequences in daily life for planning and constructing cognitive and emotional resources ( Lyubomirsky et al., 2005 ; Fredrickson et al., 2008 ). The purpose of this review is not only to contribute to the unification of the two fields, but also to provide a better starting point for the growing research investigating how music and visual-art in general impact the everyday life, such as enhancement of living environments and well-being. In addition, research on pleasure and reward is a valuable contribution in affective neuroscience when doing research on affect-based psychopathologies such as eating disorders, obsession, depression and drug addiction ( Berridge, 2003 ). We believe that research on art-induced pleasure has a position in the endeavor of elucidating the psychological constituents behind the human behavior underlying pleasure. Yet, we do not want to advocate solely for a naturalistic approach, according to which the appraisal of art objects does not need to be separated from that of any other object ( Brown et al., 2011 ). A recent paper discussing the past and the future of neuroaesthetics, recognized three different emphases in the cognitive science of aesthetic experiences: cognitive neuroscience of aesthetics, cognitive neuroscience of art and cognitive neuroscience of beauty ( Pearce et al., 2016 ). Following this categorisation, we focus on the neuroscience of art in general, and suggest an approach to sensory multimodality through the concept of pleasure which we consider suitable for two reasons. First, it is expected that when focusing on the term pleasure, studies dealing with the cognitive and the emotional aspects of music and visual-art engagement will be reached. Recent literature on reward demonstrate that pleasure is a much more complex phenomenon than mere hedonic response, both on the conceptual and on the functional levels ( Kringelbach and Berridge, 2009 ; Leknes and Tracey, 2010 ; Smith et al., 2010 ). Indeed, reward seems to be constructed of different psychological components which have been characterized as affect, motivation and learning, which can further be delineated into comprising elements of affective and cognitive processes, such as wanting based on cognitive incentives and incentive salience, learning based on cognitive and associative learning, and affect consisting of explicit feelings and implicit affective reactions ( Berridge, 2003 ). Second, it is expected that studies focusing on affective experiences, other than those of intense aesthetic experience or peak emotions, will also be captured. A qualitative thematic analysis was chosen to approach the research question in order to recognize patterns, similarities and differences in the chosen aspects of the data. The goal of this review is to understand how pleasure has been conceptualized, either directly or indirectly, in recent empirical research on music and visual-art, to eventually enable the emergence of cognitive neuroscience of art.

Here we applied the keywords of “pleasure,” “reward,” “enjoyment” and “hedonic” to evaluate how empirical music and visual-art research have approached pleasure empirically. The focus was set on the selected methods and variables, yet due to the large variability of the roles of the keywords in each paper, their positioning in the context of the research questions were investigated in further detail. Regarding the focus – pleasure – of this review, we are aware of the terminological importance of preference, expertise, beauty, liking and valence in the fields of visual-art research and music psychology ( Silvia, 2008 ; Rentfrow and Mcdonald, 2010 ; Ishizu and Zeki, 2011 ). Yet, those terms were not included as keywords because they were considered either as too specific, or too controversial to be paralleled with pleasure (see, e.g., Bundgaard, 2015 ; Pearce et al., 2016 ). Indeed, we chose the keywords to reflect the universality of pleasure, without being too much rooted into either of the disciplines, such as beauty is rooted in neuroaesthetics, where it is used to describe the feelings an aesthetic experience can evoke, and also the perceptual features of an aesthetic object ( Bundgaard, 2015 ). Also, liking was seen here more or less as a synonym for preference, which is often in music studies related to genre specific studies dealing with background variables, such as self-esteem, age, sex and socio-economic variables, not necessarily related to the experiential features of enjoyment ( North, 2010 ; Corrigall and Schellenberg, 2015 ). Also, valence is an extremely frequently used standardized measure applied in many psychological studies. Had valence been included, it is to be expected that the focus of the review would shifted away from the experiential pleasure resulting in a very large amount of papers, exceeding the scope of the review. Also, for the sake of clarity, we aimed to define this review terminologically by focusing on music and visual-art as objects of empirical research, instead of aesthetics, or aesthetic experiences in general. Indeed, the research on visual-art is closely related to aesthetics, yet aesthetics as such comprised of a multi-disciplinary field of research and is, as a concept, not well defined and thus remains outside the scope of this review ( Carroll, 2000 ). Because the history of empirical studies on music and visual-art is long and characterized by different research trends and emphasis ( Hargreaves and North, 2010 ), we decided to limit the scope of the review to the recent 20 years.

Materials and Methods

Literature search and selection.

The following databases were searched for literature: APA, Jstor, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, and Nelli. We followed a procedure illustrated and described below (Figure 1 ). For a more detailed walk-through, please see the Appendix I. The literature search consisted of several steps of inclusion and exclusion, and it consisted of systematically developing different types of filters while searching the literature. Also, searches were conducted by using an asterisk (e.g., pleasur ∗ , instead of pleasure) to not to oversee papers with language-based variability in the use of the key-words. The purpose of this strategy was firstly, to have an overview of the literature of both fields of interest, and secondly, to avoid losing relevant literature or overlooking crucial terminology. The first applied filter we call the normative filter, indicating that all papers which fulfilled the criteria of the wide set of keywords were searched. Thus, the data sampling strategy was comprehensive and included all the fields provided by each database search engine.

FIGURE 1. Literature search. Flowchart of the process of the literature search and selection.

Conclusively, reports on empirical studies that focused on pleasurable, hedonic, enjoyable or rewarding experience of music or visual-art were included. Studies were also included if any of these pleasure-synonymous concepts were embedded in the context of an aesthetic experience. This resulted in 59 theoretical and empirical papers. Of these 59 references, only papers reporting on empirical studies were included, resulting in 20 music and 11 visual-art papers. For the sake of readability, hereafter the term “pleasure” is used to refer to the other keywords of enjoyment, hedonic, and reward as well.

Data Extraction

The same core information from each paper was extracted and tabulated into a spreadsheet consisting of general publication background data (author names, journal name, year of publication, sample characteristics) and specific data extracted to answer the research questions. As far as possible, the data were copied directly as they were stated in the corresponding article, and the tabulated data were then used as a source for drawing further conclusions and categorizations for the subsequent synthesis and analysis.

Data Synthesis

Here, the synthesis was conducted mostly in a narrative form to identify patterns in the data, and to strive for a more holistic understanding of the conceptualization of pleasure ( Rumrill and Fitzgerald, 2001 ), yet in order to support the findings the tabulated aspects were also quantified. Since this review aims to understand how pleasure has been approach in empirical research, it was decided to focus on inspecting the taken methodologies and variables. Despite the systematic appliance of the filters, while searching the literature, a great variance among the papers regarding the keywords could still be detected. It is due to this reason that the role of the keyword and the type of the research question were further categorized. Thus, the decision to focus the synthesis on the two other aspects – role of the keyword and type of the research question – emerged from the included papers, that is, they were not predetermined.

The Role of the Keyword in Relation to the Research Question

The papers were first categorized according to two different positions of the keyword, either as direct or indirect. If the role of the keyword was considered direct, the keyword was clearly the object of inquiry. Whereas, if the role of the keyword was not the main target of the inquiry but, rather, an attribute of the main object of research, it was considered to be indirect. Here it should be noted that because the term aesthetic experience was included, the role of the keyword was considered indirect if it was used in that context (e.g., Belke et al., 2010 where the main term is aesthetic or art appreciation, yet it is constantly described with terms of hedonic or pleasure).

Type of Research Question

The types of research questions were divided into three categories: External factor-driven, internal factor-driven, and impact-driven. The studies in the first category posed questions in which external factors were considered to influence the internal state of the perceiver (e.g., how musical expressivity influences the derived pleasure). In the second category, the experience was investigated from the perspective of the subject (e.g., the experience depended on the perceiver’s personality). Finally, some studies used the experience of pleasure to investigate other phenomena, and these questions were labeled as impact-driven questions (e.g., the influence of music-induced pleasure on learning outcomes). The questions were categorized on the basis of how the research question was postulated in the corresponding paper without consideration of single variables of the experimental setting. Because many papers had several questions, the question could be categorized under two types, both internal- and external-driven questions. Therefore, more than one type of research question was tabulated for each paper.

Methods and Main Variables

The methods applied in each paper were tabulated according to the following criteria: “Neuroimaging” refers to methods of brain imaging and brain neurophysiology. “Behavioral” refers to tasks given to the participants, usually consisting of music listening or picture viewing, and the subsequent rating of the stimuli. “Questionnaire, Interview” refers to studies using online or pen and paper questionnaires or interviews. “Physiological measures” refers to objective, psychophysiological measurements such as heart rate. Only a maximum of two methods were tabulated for each paper.

Additionally, the main variables of each study were tabulated to obtain more detailed information on the variables measured. Because most studies used a large variety of different variables, only the most frequently used ones were categorized and discussed in relation to the enlisted methods (see Appendix II).

In the analysis, we aim to identify aspects of music and visual-art-induced pleasure that are missing, incomplete, or poorly represented in the literature ( Torraco, 2005 ). The tabulated results are inspected as an entirety on the experiential level in reference to stimulus features, perceiver attributes, cognitive-perceptual, and emotional attributes. Finally, the results are discussed in the light of pleasure conceptualisation in the interdisciplinary literature of philosophy and affective neuroscience as introduced in the beginning of the review. Further it is also discussed, whether pleasure is learned or instinctual, biological or cultural, universal or individual, and whether pleasure is a result of action or whether it facilitates the pursuit of actions ( Sizer, 2013 ; Matthen, 2017 ).

Altogether 20 papers were found in the music domain, and 11 papers in the visual-art domain. In both fields, the majority of the papers were published after the year 2008. The extracted information is tabulated below. In the Table 1 the role of the keyword (direct or indirect) is assigned to the corresponding field of either music or visual-art. In the Table 2 the applied methods (brain physiology, questionnaire and interview, behavioral and psychophysiology) are cross-tabulated with the questions types (external, internal, impact or external and internal) for each domain.

TABLE 1. Tabulation of the results based on the role of the key word.

TABLE 2. Cross-tabulation of the results based on the role of the key word, question type and applied research methods.

Role of the Keyword

As Table 1 shows, the majority of the music papers had pleasure as a clear object of investigation. Examples of pleasure clearly being the object of investigation were, e.g., musical reward responses, music reward experiences, and reward circuitry of the brain ( Montag et al., 2011 ; Mas-Herrero et al., 2013 , 2014 ). Among the music papers, only in three studies the role of the keyword was said to be indirect. The rewarding aspects of music-evoked sadness, emotional rewards of music, and reward-related activation are examples of the indirect use of keywords ( Zentner et al., 2008 ; Chapin et al., 2010 ; Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ).

Because the term aesthetic experience was used frequently in the visual-art papers, the keyword was often embedded in the aesthetic context. The keyword had a direct role in a minority of the papers. The indirect keywords were used to describe concepts such as aesthetic pleasure, aesthetic experience, beauty, pictorial perception and aesthetic appreciation. In addition, the terms aesthetic experience and pleasure or aesthetic pleasure were occasionally used interchangeably. In one of the two articles in which the keywords could be said to also be the objects, the focus was on intrinsic reward manifested in neural correlates ( Lacey et al., 2011 ). The second article focused on the so-called hedonic principle, which was considered to be the underlying mechanism of motivation to spend a certain amount of time viewing pictures ( Kron et al., 2014 ).

A clear difference between music and visual-art papers was the use of the actual keywords. Sixteen of the 20 music papers included reward- and/or pleasure-related terminology, whereas hedonic and enjoyment-related terms were a clear minority, used in only four of 20 articles. In regard to the keywords of the visual-art papers, the terms pleasure and hedonic were the most frequently used terms, whereas the term reward played a central role in only one of the studies, in which it also was the object of the research ( Lacey et al., 2011 ).

Question Type

Table 2 illustrates the findings related to the type of question asked in the examined literature. Most external factor-driven papers (five music papers and one visual-art paper) investigated neural correlates or neural mechanisms underlying pleasure. For example, the aim was to test whether limbic and paralimbic brain areas were activated during passive music listening when participants were not given an explicit instruction to focus on emotions ( Brown et al., 2004 ); or to map out neural mechanisms underlying mildly and intensely pleasurable music ( Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ). The visual-art study sought to determine whether the activation of the reward circuitry took place solely from the process of recognizing that an image is artistic rather than non-artistic in nature ( Lacey et al., 2011 ). The remainder of the external factor-driven questions aimed to recognize the quality and frequency of the reported emotions, and how these emotions could be categorized ( Zentner et al., 2008 ; Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ) or whether liking depended on the order in which the stimuli were heard ( Parker et al., 2008 ).

In the internal factor-driven music papers, the variables that depended on the perceiver’s attributes were arousal, familiarity, anticipation, musical knowledge and, most of all, personality traits. For example, research investigated individual variation in the experience of reward caused by money or music ( Mas-Herrero et al., 2013 , 2014 ); or whether familiarity and arousal correlated with pleasure ( van den Bosch et al., 2013 ). Among the visual-art papers, one of the studies implementing an internal factor-driven approach tested whether the process of perception (ambiguous vs. non-ambiguous portraits) itself depended on the aesthetic experience of the viewer ( Boccia et al., 2015 ). The second paper investigated whether emotions influenced aesthetic experience ( Marković, 2010 ).

Visual-art papers typically included both question types. The experiments were designed to test several different variables according to the stimulus features, the perceiver, and their correlation. The relationship between the internal and external factors was thematised in several research questions. For example, a study conducted by Cupchik et al. (2009) aimed to investigate, on one hand, how different modes of viewing (aesthetic vs. pragmatic viewing mode) paintings influenced the experience and, on the other hand, how the experience depended on the structural (soft edges vs. hard edges) content of the paintings. The impact-driven questions of the music papers addressed learning, stress, attitude and music information seeking and how these factors were related to pleasure (e.g., Gold et al., 2013 ; Perlovsky et al., 2013 ).

Both fields used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) most frequently (e.g., Menon and Levitin, 2005 ; Montag et al., 2011 ; Jacobs et al., 2012 ; Boccia et al., 2015 ). Also, it is notable that in music studies it was common to apply questionnaires and interviews, and physiological measures, whereas these were a clear methodological minority in the visual-art papers. However, as visible from the cross-tabulation of Table 2 , most studies applied more than one method, which is why comparing the different methods is hard and the subsequent discussion is more interesting when considering the taken variables as well (see Appendix II for more details). In the following, we aim to provide a characterisation of the common combinations of variables and methods typical in both fields of interest.

The main variables of the imaging methods common to the music papers were the neural correlates of reward and intense pleasure or liking (e.g., Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ; Menon and Levitin, 2005 ; Montag et al., 2011 ; Salimpoor et al., 2011 ), whereas the visual-art papers addressed the difference between basic visual processing and aesthetic emotional processing, hence imagining the brain more broadly focusing on brain areas involved in pictorial processing (e.g., Jacobs et al., 2012 ; Kreplin and Fairclough, 2013 ). One of the visual-art studies addressed a question similar to those addressed in the music studies: whether the artistic status of a picture alone can activate the reward center in the brain ( Lacey et al., 2011 ). The variables of the studies combining imaging and viewing and rating-based behavioral tasks varied including naturalness, beauty and roughness; valence and complexity; liking; classification between artistic and non-artistic statuses; aesthetic preference; reaction time or familiarity, demonstrating that in addition to perception modes, the influence of stimulus features was measured.

The most common variable in the music studies was valence, including its different variations from liking to disliking or from pleasing to not pleasing (a total of 12 studies: e.g., Parker et al., 2008 ; Salimpoor et al., 2011 ). Arousal was also frequently measured (in a total of eight studies) (e.g., Salimpoor et al., 2011 ; Mas-Herrero et al., 2014 ). In visual-art studies, valence or a similar dimension was measured in five studies (e.g., Vessel et al., 2012 ; Kron et al., 2014 ). In addition to mere liking or enjoyment, visual-art studies implemented more complex measures such as beauty, endorsement, aesthetic preference, and emotional movement (e.g., Lacey et al., 2011 ; Hager et al., 2012 ; Jacobs et al., 2012 ; Vessel et al., 2012 ). Arousal was measured in only one study ( Kron et al., 2014 ). The music studies used character inventories, such as Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Approach System (BIS/BAS) or Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), to mention a few ( Montag et al., 2011 ; Mas-Herrero et al., 2013 ), and questionnaires to address the listening background or music preference ( Garrido and Schubert, 2011 ; Gold et al., 2013 ). In visual-art papers, frequently addressed modes or judgmental aspects were artistic vs. non-artistic, pragmatic vs. aesthetic, emotional introspection vs. external object identification and evaluative vs. emotional components.

In sum, a common method used in both fields was brain imaging. Furthermore, when the object of research was reward or pleasure, the object was mainly thought to consist of self-reports based on valence and on psychophysiological measurements (in music studies) or different modes of judgment or perception (in visual-art studies), which had neural correlates as their reference. In the visual-art field, subjective perception was highlighted without additional objective measures. This approach was used to investigate the degree to which pleasure or the aesthetic experience depended on varying modes of perception. Thus, the subjective preparedness and focus of attention were considered the starting points for the whole experience. Music studies used both subjective and objective measures: The conscious, subjective valence and the objectively quantified parameters – such as activation of the reward circuitry or psychophysiological parameters – were required for an experience to be considered pleasurable or rewarding. Few studies aimed to test whether the stimuli used could activate reward-related brain circuitry without conscious listening or viewing.

Valence and related measures were variables that were commonly examined in both fields. Visual-art studies additionally used complex experiential and stimulus-derived descriptors, whereas the music studies collected person-derived data on background, personality and music consumption. In music studies, the more frequent use of psychophysiological measures indicates that arousal was addressed more often. In the visual-art studies, pictures of paintings, drawings or photos were used as stimuli. In all studies, the stimuli were selected by the experimenter, and many studies mixed abstract and representational stimuli. Also, one production task was given where the participants were instructed to depict affectively expressive content ( Takahashi, 1995 ). In contrast, in the music studies, the frequent use of different questionnaires revealed the lack of real-time music stimuli, since these studies relied on retrospective memory retrieval and on participants’ conception of their own identity as music consumers: typically, these studies aimed at developing an instrument or at identifying induced emotions. One questionnaire study implemented music listening as part of the data collection ( Vuoskoski and Eerola, 2011 ). With two exceptions ( Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ; Montag et al., 2011 ), all music stimuli were pre-selected, either by a separate group of participants or by the experimenters.

Overall, the reviewed papers demonstrate a great variety in the ways in which music and visual-art papers address pleasure. The Figure 2 below was constructed to illustrate and structure the results in regard to stimulus properties (A), perceiver attributes (B), cognitive perceptual attributes (C), and emotional attributes (D). The Figure 2 was constructed around the above-mentioned features to open the results of the review in the experiential context. Thus, rather than further discussing the experimental settings such as variables and methods, with the Figure 2 , we hope to synthesize the most prominent features characterizing the experience of listening to music or viewing art, prevalent in both domains. This way we wish to lead the discussion to the more in-depth analysis of the results. Each of the above-mentioned aspects of the examined literature is discussed below. Please, see the Appendix II for the detailed tabulation of the data.

FIGURE 2. A summary of the findings. Diagram of the distribution of the most frequently examined variables in empirical research on visual-art and music-induced pleasure based on the review of the literature.

(A) Stimulus Properties

Stimulus properties refer to different audible or visible qualities of music and visual-art. Here the comparison showed that in visual-art research, the role of the stimulus was emphasized in a very versatile manner. By contrast, music research emphasized the perceiver’s personal background and biographical factors, which are visible when inspecting the perceiver attributes (B), and cognitive perceptual attributes (C).

(B) Perceiver attributes

Perceiver attributes refer to the individual and biographical qualities of the perceiver. Only the music research addressed listener attributes using various types of character inventories and collected data on biographical information.

(C) Cognitive perceptual attributes

This level refers to the cognitive process of perceiving the stimulus. Here, instead of comparing the two fields in regard to the methods and their variables, we aimed to summarize the results by categorizing the variables in regard to the very fundamental differences among music and visual-art. Namely, music evolving in time and visual-art being static, and spatially distributed. Static variables refer to variables that accumulate over time (e.g., as a result of learning), are more biographical, and are relatively unchangeable features of the perceiver. Dynamic variables refer to attributes that can be consciously manipulated (as in visual-art research, e.g., viewing mode) or that strongly depend on the corresponding stimulus (e.g., anticipation based on the temporal evolvement of a certain musical piece). Indeed, in the field of visual-art, the range of dynamic variables is much larger, giving the perceiver an active role as an interpreting subject. Thus, it seems that whereas music evolves in time, the applied measures are static, and visual-art which is spatially distributed and temporally static, is investigated more by using variables prone to change and conscious manipulation. This approach, in which the person categorizes and actively interprets information, has also been recognized in emotion research, for example, by Barrett (2006) . She called this the “conceptual act” (as opposed to emotions as “natural kind entities”). Specifically, she stated that emotions emerge as a result of people applying their previously acquired knowledge to process and categorize sensory information. Conclusively, many experimental set-ups relied on the perceiver’s ability to vary the mode of viewing art and recorded whether this changed the resulting experience. Instead of highlighting personality traits or general background, such research considered the viewer as an active participant in the experience through his or her perceptual and interpretational input during the actual viewing situation. By implementing these various modes of perception, and by changing the stimulus features, scholars often attempted to capture the degree to which the derived experience depended on the judgmental or experiential/emotional mode.

(D) Emotional attributes

Here, it becomes evident that both fields addressed emotional dimensions of an experience by applying subjective and objective measures. Research conducted in the field of music focused generally on emotions – including also negative emotions – whereas visual-art research often approached pleasurable experience by using rather complex, abstract, and evaluative terminology such as endorsement and being moved. To approach the different types of emotions and experiences, both fields measured the degree of experienced valence. Valence and arousal are dimensions that are commonly applied in emotion psychology to characterize different emotional qualities. For example, Feldman Barrett and Russell (1999) postulated that valence and arousal are independent of each other, and that both have independent polarities. Indeed, it in the visual-art field, arousal was not commonly used as a dimension of a pleasurable experience. This was also evident in the lack of physiological measurements, which are typically applied to measure arousal. In the music studies the applied arousal measures were usually objective psychophysiological measurements, even though arousal can also be applied, e.g., in the form of questionnaires as a subjective self-report.

In music papers, a typical underlying conceptualization was intrinsic reward, which is discussed as a dimension in appraisal theories. Intrinsic pleasantness represents a rather early reaction in the unfolding chain of events of appraisal, and it is considered to determine the fundamental reaction to an already detected stimulus encouraging avoidance or approach ( Ellsworth and Scherer, 2003 ). First, many papers aimed to demonstrate that music is indeed intrinsically rewarding. Second, the interaction between cortical and subcortical brain regions was investigated to elaborate how one derives pleasure from abstract sounds.

In summary both fields do represent in the philosophical literature of sensory affect prevalent anti-representational view, in that they separate the experience from the objective features of the stimulus, such that the locus of affect is indeed the experience of the individual, and that the phenomenology of the sensation is not explained by the stimulus features ( Aydede and Fulkerson , forthcoming ). In the visual-art field the conceptualisation of sensory affect can be inspected in the light of attitudinal or externalist theories. In accordance to these theories, the pleasant sensation to the sensory features of the stimulus, together with a mental attitude – such as desiring, wanting, preferring and liking – construct the composite state of a pleasurable sensation. Crucial here is the idea that sensory pleasure is strongly connected to mental states without having an intrinsic qualia, and thus it is causally connected to the current state of the person ( Aydede and Fulkerson , forthcoming ). In visual-art the explanatory power to the differences in the experience is given to knowledge, intentionality, history and time. According to an imperative view in the philosophy of sensory affect, sensory information presents in itself command-like information to the organism, which informs the organism to action or to retain from an action. Thus, sensory information are considered as motivational states ( Aydede and Fulkerson , forthcoming ). This kind understanding of pleasure seems prevalent in papers which address the stimulation of the reward center of the brain. Yet an approach more refined and closer to the understanding of affective neuroscience seems to be the psychofunctionalist view, according to which incoming sensory information is valued in causal and functional roles such that the information still holds motivational components, yet it is integrated to the mental economy of the perceiver.

This literature review aimed to understand how pleasure derived from music and visual-art had been understood conceptually, either directly or indirectly, in empirical research during the past 20 years. The papers were analyzed in qualitative terms, instead of a quantitative meta-analysis, due to the small amount of papers and due to the large variability in the operationalisation of the key words. The distinction between direct and indirect keyword use is a good example of qualitative comparison, where the papers being reviewed guide the question formulation, which might mean that the formulation of the research question can change during the review process. It turned out that in particular in the visual-art papers pleasure was a very vaguely used term that is, many times it was not a clear object of investigation but rather, it was a characterisation of the researched phenomenon. In our view, an informative quantitative meta-analysis would have required more common nominators and less divergence among the papers. The first findings emerged already during the literature search that, after having applied descriptive, theme-specific and normative filters, started from approximately 200 papers in music, and 90 papers in visual-art and, after refining the keywords and filters, ended up with 20 in music and 11 visual-art studies. The clearly smaller amount of visual-art papers in comparison to the music papers, is a clear demonstration that the phenomenon of interest – pleasure – had a different position in visual-art research. This is also highlighted by the fact that the keywords in the visual-art papers were frequently embedded into the context of an aesthetic experience. Yet, as demonstrated in the literature search flowchart, the ratio between the fields was more balanced when the theoretical papers were also included. This is an indication that pleasure has a more concise role in theories and models of visual-art than in the equivalent empirical research.

Next to the literature search, the actual synthesis confirmed the above-discussed findings. Music and visual-art studies showed an emphasis on different keywords (reward and pleasure in music research, hedonic and pleasure – embedded in aesthetic experience – in visual-art) and appointed different roles for the keywords (more direct in music, indirect in visual-art), thus demonstrating that pleasure is not a scientifically unanimously defined, nor a conceptually clear object of investigation. Indeed, the process of choosing the correct keywords was a result of several discussions, thus also highlighting the definitional issues related, on one hand to the phenomenon of interest, and on the other hand, on the differences between the two fields. The focus of this review was not aesthetic experiences as such, yet had we included beauty as a keyword, and had papers solely focusing on aesthetic experience, without a clear connection to pleasure, also been included, then the balance between the papers would have been different. Whereas the term aesthetic experience is prevalent in the field of visual-art, a similarly important term in the field of music is the term “peak emotion” or “strong emotion” which often investigate the psychophysiological chills, also known as goose pimples (See, e.g., Gabrielsson, 2010 ; Grewe et al., 2011 ). Nevertheless, chills, nor the specific terminology related to the peak emotions were included as keywords because they, too, would have been too specific compared with the more general terms related to pleasure. Also, characteristic to chills is that they may occur in response to unpleasant events, which would have stretched the scope of the review. We assume that the reason why the concept of pleasure seems to play a larger and a more direct role in the empirical music research than in the empirical visual-art research lies in the different backgrounds of the disciplines. The prevalence of the term “reward” in the music studies can probably be traced down to the field of affective neuroscience, where it typically refers to the activation of the reward circuitry of the brain and is concerned with mapping the neural basis of mood and emotional processing of the brain ( Dalgleish, 2004 ). The history of empirical research on music and visual-art is long, yet the scope of the review was short, comprising the past 20 years of research to only include relatively recent literature. During this time the term neuroaesthetics was coined ( Ishizu and Zeki, 2011 ) (see also Zeki, 1999 ), which is a sub-discipline of cognitive neuroscience, focusing on understanding how the brain processes pictorial information and beauty, and which biological functions underlie these processes; the degree to which a good pictorial organization underlies aesthetic experiencing; and how an aesthetic experience becomes a conscious one ( Di Dio and Vittorio, 2009 ; Chatterjee, 2011 ). Indeed, rather than searching for the correlates in the reward center of the brain, neuroaesthetics has been more concerned with finding common nominators among the stimuli which are artistically appreciated and liked ( Ramachandran and Hirstein, 1999 ), thus possibly explaining the difference in the use of the keywords. In contrast, the background of the music papers lies in emotion psychology, which most likely explains why pleasure was often discussed and investigated in emotion related terms. The fact the music studies did not address the variation of the stimulus features in similar scale as the visual-art is surprizing, considering the fact the question about the link between musical features and the corresponding emotions has been a traditional topic in music psychology. Yet one of the fundamental differences between the art forms is the fact that they employ different sensory systems and also, they are culturally integrated in our daily lives in a different manner. This difference might lie in the cultural significance of our visual perception as our dominant sense and that we are most accustomed to extracting semantic meaning from and ascribing it to visual representations.

We can conclude that music research conceptualized pleasure by using elements of core affect or hedonic tone (valence and arousal) ( Feldman Barrett and Russell, 1999 ; Russell and Barrett, 1999 ) and intrinsic reward. In particular, the idea of music being able to activate the reward center and the use of psychophysiological measures refer to the idea of music-induced pleasure being biological, rather than culture and context specific in nature. It seems, as if musical pleasure was more involved in the homeostasis of the organism, having an access to the parts of the nervous system which are not subjected to volitional control of the person such as autonomic nervous system and limbic structures of the brain. This aspect is also highlighted when inspecting musical pleasure in terms of the survival circuits and functions related to that, such as motivation, emotions, reinforcement and arousal ( LeDoux, 2012 ). Although an element of core affect – valence – was also common in visual-art research, the derived pleasure was considered to emerge as a result of the conceptual act ( Barrett, 2006 ). That is, the experience is dependent on the perceiver’s active interpretation and attribution of meaning, referring to a more culture and context specific understanding of pleasure (see, e.g., Bullot and Reber, 2013 ). It seems that visual-art pleasure was conceptualized more as an act of information processing consisting of the duality of feature processing and representation ( Marr, 1982 ). Inspecting the results on the dichotomy of learning and instinct, it seems that in both domains it was rather learning-, than instinct-based factors that were dominant. With some variance, both discussed expertise, familiarity and anticipation, which can be seen as examples of accumulative learning ( Silvia, 2008 ; Huron, 2010 ). Also, both domains highlighted the importance of individuality over universality in response to the stimuli, yet different aspects were highlighted. Music research focused on subject-driven parameters such as familiarity, biographical background and personality, which seem to be rather stable features and inaccessible to voluntary modulation of the perceiver. Whereas in the field of visual-art, the experience was particularly conceived a result of a conscious, and an active process of interpretation, depending on dynamic variables subjected to the level of expertise and personal control.

As demonstrated in the beginning of this review pleasure and the human desire for pleasure facilitates mental processes and behavior. In literature on pleasure, it has been discussed whether pleasure facilitates the pursuit of an activity, or whether it is the result of an activity ( Sizer, 2013 ; Matthen, 2014 ). Mainly due to the fact that pleasure had such a variant role in the papers reviewed here, no conclusion about such a relationship could be made. Yet, exactly the questions how art-induced pleasure and reward mediate human behavior and mental processes, or how different pleasure systems ( Berridge and Kringelbach, 2015 ) underlie pleasurable experiences are particularly intriguing ones, and indeed, have been highlighted in the recent literature ( Chatterjee and Vartanian, 2016 ; Pearce et al., 2016 ). Ultimately, with this review we wish to encourage future empirical research to approach pleasure and its mediating role for cognition and affect from the multimodal perspective of music and visual-art. Yet, as long as music and visual-art research are not integrated and they lack a shared framework, the research on sensory multimodality will remain difficult and restricted ( Marin, 2015 ; Hodges, 2016 ). Also, we hope that future comparative research would reveal certain modality-specific characteristics in emotional responses to music and visual-art, leading to a more realistic and versatile understanding of enjoyment, not only on the conceptual, but also on the sensory level.

Author Contributions

SS, JW, JM, and MT defined the scope of the review (keywords, inclusion- and exclusion criteria), the goal and the purpose of the paper. Additionally, JW, SS, and JM commented on the text of the paper. Also, SS is the thesis supervisor of the first author and she provided methodological support as well. EB commented on the paper, provided discussion input and was involved in the process of writing as well.

We would like to thank Kone Foundation for funding this review (grant number: 32881-9).

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01218/full#supplementary-material

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords : music, visual-art, pleasure, reward, enjoyment, aesthetic experience

Citation: Tiihonen M, Brattico E, Maksimainen J, Wikgren J and Saarikallio S (2017) Constituents of Music and Visual-Art Related Pleasure – A Critical Integrative Literature Review. Front. Psychol. 8:1218. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01218

Received: 16 November 2016; Accepted: 03 July 2017; Published: 20 July 2017.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2017 Tiihonen, Brattico, Maksimainen, Wikgren and Saarikallio. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Marianne Tiihonen, [email protected] Elvira Brattico, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Literature Review: The impact of reading for pleasure and empowerment

Literature Review: The impact of reading for pleasure and empowerment June 2015

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Reading for pleasure: exploring the concept

Defined by the International Literary Association (ILA, 2018) as the opportunity to read freely, voluntarily, and with delight, reading for pleasure does not include response sheets or tests – it is choice-led reading primarily for enjoyment.

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In England, where reading for pleasure is mandated (DfE, 2013), the term is often used interchangeably with ‘reading for enjoyment’ or developing a ‘love of reading’. Such reading can involve any kind of text: novels, magazines, poetry, comics or non-fiction for example, in electronic as well as in printed form. 

It can take place anywhere: at home, at school, in a café, on a bus (or any form of transport), on a beach, in a park (or any  leisure location) – literally anywhere. At the core of reading for pleasure is the reader’s volition, their agency and desire to read, their anticipation of the satisfaction gained through the experience and/or afterwards in interaction with others. Historically, reading has often been characterised as a personal solitary experience conducted in privacy, yet more recent research has revealed the profoundly social nature of reading, of being a young reader and of reading for pleasure.

Different terms are used internationally to capture the dispositions and motivations of those children and young people who choose to read and do so regularly. Such reading is often described as ‘free voluntary reading’, or ‘independent reading’, in order to capture the reader’s sense of agency and choice (Krashen, 2004). It has also been described as ‘recreational reading’ (Ross, McKechnie and Rothbauer, 2006; Schugar and Dreyer, 2015), reading undertaken for the personal satisfaction of the reader, in their own free time.

Synonyms for pleasure include desire, preference, wish, choice and liking – all of which speak to the reading for pleasure agenda and young people’s agency as readers.

Exploring the notion of ‘pleasure’ 

Reading for pleasure as a concept within education is potentially problematic; it is open to multiple interpretations and can create confusion for educators who work to make all the reading undertaken – in English lessons, in projects and in cross curricula and extra curricula contexts – pleasurable. But in order to foster reading for pleasure in schools, homes and community contexts, conceptual clarity is essential, alongside awareness of the  subtle differences between reading for pleasure, pleasure in reading and their synergies. Children and young people’s perceptions of reading for pleasure also deserve attention.

Reading for pleasure is increasingly recognised as a ‘purposeful volitional act with a large measure of choice and free will’ (Powell, 2014). Whereas pleasure in reading refers to pleasure in the experience, regardless of whether the reader was able to exercise agency in the context. For instance, listening to a bedtime story read by a parent may well be a highly enjoyable and valuable experience, although it will not necessarily lead to the child choosing to read in their own time, that is reading for pleasure. Likewise, finding pleasure in school-led extrinsically set reading tasks may or may not lead to children choosing to read in their own time.

Conceptual clarity over reading for  pleasure, is essential for fostering it in schools, homes and communities.

As discussed more fully in a later section of the review, intrinsic reading motivation (reading for its own sake), is more positively associated with reading for pleasure, with reading frequency and enhanced reading outcomes than extrinsic reading motivation (e.g.  Scheifele et al., 2012; Troyer et al., 2019). The latter refers to reading for recognition, for reward or to please teachers/parents. Research also indicates that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and reading skills develops at the early age of 6 years (McGeown et al., 2015) and that children can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated at the same time (McGeown et al., 2012).

The positive connotation of the word ‘pleasure’ also deserves nuancing when examining young people’s volitional engagement in reading. The experience itself may evoke a wide range of feelings and responses, including for example, sadness, irritation, anger, and discomfort as well as joy. Nonetheless if the reader sustains their engagement, they are likely to be reading for some form of satisfaction, in response to their own  goals. While it has been suggested that reading for pleasure can be defined as ‘Non-goal-oriented transactions with texts as a way to spend time and for entertainment’ (BOP consulting, 2015), children do choose to read for diverse personal purposes and goals, consciously and unconsciously. Their own goals and motivations shape their reading choices and may lead them to read different text types (McGeown et al., 2015, 2020). For example, they may read in order to satisfy their curiosity and understand more about dinosaurs, space, their football team, or women in history, or may read in order to relax, or may seek the enjoyment of revisiting familiar characters in a book or comic series. Many will also value the opportunity to connect to and experience others’ lives (fictional and real), and in the process find emotional succour in reflecting upon their own. As Sanacore observes, when individuals read for pleasure frequently, they ‘experience the value of reading for efferent and aesthetic processes, thus, they are more likely to read with a sense of purpose’ (2002:68).

Some studies focus on the nature of the pleasure experienced by those young people who choose to read in their own free time. Several of these studies draw on data from the OECD Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), which regularly assesses the reading attitudes and attainment of 15 year olds. In one such study, Cheung (2016) claims that fondness for reading (defined in his work as readers who follow their hearts), aspiration for reading, and being good at reading are seen as salient elements of readers’ engagement which affect their reading performance.

In a study of the reasons for reading offered by 9–10-year-old readers (n:33), the dominant drivers the children reported linked to their affective engagement in texts; the feelings and emotions triggered by reading and the opportunity to become immersed in texts (McGeown et al., 2020). Another study of avid adolescent readers’ perceptions of free reading (n:29), suggests that such choice-led reading, including the reading of genres typically marginalised in school (e.g., romance, fantasy, vampire, dystopia and horror) offers teenagers five distinct kinds of pleasure (Wilhelm, 2016). These include:

• The immersive pleasure of play : e.g., getting lost in a book and living through the text.
• Intellectual pleasure : e.g., finding out about issues of interest in the world and solving problems in narratives.
• Social pleasure : e.g., belonging to a community of readers and connecting to others through reading as well as identifying as a reader.
• The pleasure of functional work : e.g., using reading to learn, think, and act in different ways, and using reading to shape one’s writing.
• The pleasure of inner work : e.g., using reading to learn about oneself, to imagine oneself in different situations and consider options.

However, this study of the young  people’s perceptions, indicates that only their intellectual pleasure was directly fostered in school. Wilhelm (2016) urges educators to recognize the central role of pleasure and its linked compatriot – choice – in developing lifelong readers. It is surely a professional responsibility to nurture readers who engage deeply, creatively and critically with the meanings and possibilities offered.

Reading engagement and reading for meaning

Reading engagement, a multidimensional construct studied in settings such as home, school, and the workplace is frequently associated with the concept of reading for pleasure. Engaged readers are those who want to read, who regularly make time for reading, and who find satisfaction through the process of thinking about the text’s meaning. Such readers tend to be motivated, display positive attitudes to reading, are sufficiently assured to make in-depth  meanings and are likely to want to discuss texts with others. This summary aligns well with the OECD’s (2016) broadened conception of reading which acknowledges that there are motivational and behavioural characteristics of reading, as well as cognitive ones. Their re-conceptualisation of reading, first used in the 2019 PISA survey, complements the OECD’s current definition of reader engagement.

A person who is literate in reading not only has the skills and knowledge to read well, but also values and uses reading for a variety of purposes. It is therefore a goal of education to cultivate not only proficiency, but also engagement with reading.

Engagement in this context implies the motivation to read and comprises a cluster of affective and behavioural characteristics that include an interest in and enjoyment of reading, a sense of control over what one reads, involvement in the social dimension of reading and diverse and frequent reading practices. (OECD, 2019, p.29)

A depiction of this developed by the National Literacy Trust (see Figure 1) summarises some of the key affective processes and reading behaviours of readers who not only can, but who do choose to read and read regularly.

Through the motivated process of finding, making and thinking about meaning, engaged readers develop their understanding and capacity to reflect upon and evaluate what they read, and at the same time they nurture their desire to read. Engaged readers are not only motivated to make connections, which might be intra-personal (within person), inter-personal (between people), or inter-textual (between texts) (Smith, 2005), but are often socially interactive and keen to discuss their views and understandings with others – friends, family, teachers and peers. This deep engagement in the processes of making, sharing and developing meaning through reading and discussion, is intrinsically motivating, and affords many benefits to young people who choose to read for pleasure regularly in their own time. It is to the myriad benefits associated with reading for pleasure which this review now turns.

To reference this article: Cremin, T. Hendry, H. Chamberlain, L and Twiner, A. (2022)

• ABOP Consulting (2015) ‘Literature Review: The impact of reading for pleasure and empowerment’ The Reading Agency
• Cheung, K., Mak, S., Sit, P. & Soh, K. (2016) ’A typology of student reading engagement: Preparing for response to intervention in the school curriculum’ Studies in Educational Evaluation 48, 32-42
• Clark, C & Teravainen, A. (2017) ‘What it means to be a reader at age 11: valuing skills, affective components and behavioural processes: An outline of the evidence’ National Literacy Trust
• Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F., Powell, S. & Safford, K. (2014)  Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for pleasure. Routledge
• Department for Education (2013) ‘English programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2: National curriculum in England’ Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/g overnment/uploads/system/uploads/atta chment_data/file/335186/PRIMARY_nati onal_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf
• International Literary Association (2018) ‘The Case for Children’s Rights to Read’ International Literary Association
• Krashen, S. (2004) The Power of Reading. Heinemann and Westport: Libraries Unlimited
• Merga, M., McRae, M. & Rutherford, L. (2018) ‘Adolescents’ attitudes toward talking about books: implications for educators ’ English in Education 52(1), 36- 53
• McGeown, S., Bonsall, J., Andries, V., Howarth, D. & Wilkinson, K. (2020) ‘Understanding reading motivation across different text types: qualitative insights from children ’ Journal of Research in Reading 43(4), 597-608
• McGeown, S.P., Osborne, C., Warhurst, A., Norgate, R. & Duncan, L.G. (2015). Understanding children’s reading activities: Reading motivation, skill and child characteristics as predictors. Journal of Research in Reading, 39(1), 109–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467- 9817.12060
• McGeown, S., Johnston, R., Walker, J., Howatson, K., Stockburn, A. & Dufton, P. (2015) ‘The relationship between young children’s enjoyment of learning to read, reading attitudes, confidence and attainment’ Educational Research 57(4), 389-402
• McGeown, S., Norgate, R., Warhurst, A. (2012) ’Exploring intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation among very good and very poor readers’ Educational Research 54(3), 309-322
• OECD (2016) PISA 2015 Assessment and Analytical Framework: Science, Reading, Mathematic and Financial Literacy, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/978926425542  5-en
• OECD (2019) PISA 2018 Assessment and Analytical Framework, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b25efab8-en
• Powell, S. (2014) Influencing children’s attitudes, motivation and achievements’ In T. Cremin, M. Mottram, F. Collins, S. Powell & and K. Safford (Eds.) Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for pleasure. (p.128-146) Routledge
• Ross, C., McKechnie, L. & Rothbauer, P. (2006) Reading Matters: What research reveals about reading, libraries and community. Westport: Libraries Unlimited
• Sanacore, J. (2002) ‘Struggling literacy learners benefit from lifetime literacy efforts’ Reading Psychology 23(2), 67-86
• Schiefele, U., Schaffner, E., Moller, J., & Wigfield, A. (2012) ‘Dimensions of Reading Motivation and Their Relation to Reading Behavior and Competence’ Reading Research Quarterly 47(4), 427- 463 
• Schugar, H. R., & Dreher, M. J. (2017).  U.S. fourth graders’ informational text comprehension: Indicators from NAEP. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 9(3), 523-552. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1134190
• Sellers, C. (2019) ‘‘Fitting In' and 'Standing Out': The Peer Group and Young People's Development of Reader Identity’ British Journal of Sociology of Education 40(7), 938-952  
• Smith, V. (2005) Making Read Mean. UKLA
• Troyer, M., Kim, J. & Hale, E. (2019) ‘Relations among Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation, Reading Amount, and Comprehension: A Conceptual Replication’ Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 32(5), 1197- 1218
• Wilhelm, J. (2016) ‘Recognising the power of pleasure: What engaged adolescent readers get from their free-choice reading, and how teachers can leverage this for all’ Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 39(1), 30-41.  

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Can eating pleasure be a lever for healthy eating? A systematic scoping review of eating pleasure and its links with dietary behaviors and health

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Centre Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS), Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Sociology, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

Affiliations Centre Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS), Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada, School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

• Alexandra Bédard, 
• Pierre-Olivier Lamarche, 
• Lucie-Maude Grégoire, 
• Catherine Trudel-Guy, 
• Véronique Provencher, 
• Sophie Desroches, 
• Simone Lemieux

• Published: December 21, 2020
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The aims of this review were to map and summarize data currently available about 1) key dimensions of eating pleasure; 2) associations of eating pleasure, and its key dimensions, with dietary and health outcomes and 3) the most promising intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy eating. Using the scoping review methodology, a comprehensive search of the peer-reviewed literature (Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, ERIC, Web of Science, CINAHL, ABI/Inform global and Sociology Abstract) and of the grey literature (ProQuest Dissertations & Theses and Google) was carried out by two independent reviewers. We included 119 of the 28,908 studies found. In total, 89 sub-dimensions of eating pleasure were grouped into 22 key dimensions. The most frequently found related to sensory experiences (in 50.9% of the documents), social experiences (42.7%), food characteristics besides sensory attributes (27.3%), food preparation process (19.1%), novelty (16.4%), variety (14.5%), mindful eating (13.6%), visceral eating (12.7%), place where food is consumed (11.8%) and memories associated with eating (10.9%). Forty-five studies, mostly cross-sectional (62.2%), have documented links between eating pleasure and dietary and/or health outcomes. Most studies (57.1%) reported favorable associations between eating pleasure and dietary outcomes. For health outcomes, results were less consistent. The links between eating pleasure and both dietary and health outcomes varied according to the dimensions of eating pleasure studied. Finally, results from 11 independent interventions suggested that strategies focusing on sensory experiences, cooking and/or sharing activities, mindful eating, and positive memories related to healthy food may be most promising. Thus, eating pleasure may be an ally in the promotion of healthy eating. However, systematically developed, evidence-based interventions are needed to better understand how eating pleasure may be a lever for healthy eating.

Citation: Bédard A, Lamarche P-O, Grégoire L-M, Trudel-Guy C, Provencher V, Desroches S, et al. (2020) Can eating pleasure be a lever for healthy eating? A systematic scoping review of eating pleasure and its links with dietary behaviors and health. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0244292. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292

Editor: Hans De Steur, Universiteit Gent, BELGIUM

Received: June 26, 2020; Accepted: December 8, 2020; Published: December 21, 2020

Copyright: © 2020 Bédard et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (author who received this grant: Simone Lemieux; grant number FHG 129921; URL: https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/ ). There was no additional external funding received for this study. The CIHR had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Diet quality has been identified as a major determinant of health. However, in developed countries, many individuals still not consume enough fruits, vegetables and wholes grains, while consuming too much processed foods high in energy, sodium, free sugars and saturated fats [ 1 , 2 ]. Despite numerous public health campaigns aimed at improving dietary habits, recent data suggest that diet quality has remained suboptimal over years [ 3 ]. These observations are challenging for policymakers and health professionals, underlying the necessity to improve food policies and interventions, and to identify new approaches to promote healthy eating that may have a greater impact on diet quality over time. These efforts could lead to considerable health benefits, along with reducing disease-related costs [ 4 ].

Some authors have proposed that the strong focus on the healthiness of food that is typically used to encourage individuals to change their food habits could explain, at least partly, the limited success of strategies used to improve diet quality [ 5 – 8 ]. Indeed, it is likely that the uneven importance attributed to the health value of food compared with other food values (e.g., related to preferences and human experiences) can nurture the beliefs that the healthiness of food is incompatible with these other food attributes [ 9 ]. A good example of this is the well-documented unhealthy equal tasty association. Some studies have shown that food presented as being healthy is often considered as being less tasty than “unhealthy” food [ 10 – 15 ]. This perception seems to be influenced by the culture. Previous research observed that, for Americans, unhealthy food is implicitly associated to tastiness [ 15 ]. However, the opposite intuition has been observed in France, French people spontaneously associating unhealthy food with bad taste, while linking healthy food to tastiness [ 16 ]. Considering that taste is a predominant determinant of food choices [ 17 , 18 ], the unhealthy equal tasty intuition can clearly thwart the adoption of healthy food choices.

A growing number of authors have suggested that pleasure should be emphasized more in the promotion of healthy eating [ 6 – 8 , 19 – 21 ]. This is even reflected in the latest dietary guidelines in some countries, including Canada [ 22 ] and Brazil [ 23 ], but also in intervention strategies using the “intuitive eating” approach (i.e., an approach that implies eating in response to hunger and satiety cues and rediscovering the pleasures of eating) [ 24 ]. This new paradigm is supported by a growing body of research that has reported, using different study designs, favorable associations between eating pleasure and dietary and health outcomes. For example, various cross-sectional studies have linked higher eating pleasure to better nutritional status [ 25 ], healthier food choices [ 26 – 28 ], increased subjective diet-related quality of life [ 29 ] and decreased depressive symptoms [ 30 ]. Other studies of both short-term and long-term interventions using eating pleasure also observed promising results. For example, Petit et al. [ 7 ] found that focusing on the healthiness of food decreased activity in the gustatory and reward brain areas, whereas focusing on the tastiness of food increased brain activity in self-control, gustatory and reward areas, and most importantly increased the percentage of healthy food choices. Overall, the authors concluded that promoting the tastiness of healthy food may lead to more successful self-control and healthy dietary behaviors. In a randomized controlled trial conducted by our research group [ 31 ], a sensory-based intervention addressing the topics of relationship with food, reliance on hunger and satiety cues, food tasting and eating pleasure showed that women who were allocated to the intervention decreased their level of disinhibition in comparison to the control group. Sasson et al. [ 32 ] did an experiment with US students who explored food and nutrition from historical, cultural and culinary perspectives during a study abroad program in Italy. Six months after the end of the program, it was found that students had increased their use of fresh and locally grown foods, improved their cooking skills and were less worried about calories [ 32 ]. Authors suggested that focusing on eating pleasure can nurture lifelong healthy eating habits. However, other studies have observed a negative link between eating pleasure and diet quality [ 27 , 33 , 34 ] or body-mass index (BMI) [ 35 , 36 ]. In some cross-sectional studies, eating pleasure has been associated with the consumption of convenience food [ 33 ], late-night snaking [ 34 ], and has been identified as a factor motivating the consumption of sweets [ 13 ]. Moreover, results from Cornil & Chandon [ 37 ] showed that focusing on sensory pleasure made sated eaters and dieters choose larger portions of hedonic foods, while the opposite was observed for hungry eaters and nondieters. Eating pleasure has also been reported as one of the most important reason for weight gain over years in a sample of women and men living with obesity [ 35 ].

The use of different approaches to define eating pleasure may partly explain the inconsistency of these outcomes. Studies aimed at understanding overeating and self-regulation failures [ 21 , 38 – 41 ] mostly describe proper weight management as incompatible with eating pleasure, which they define as visceral impulses triggered by external cues or emotional urges driven by biological preferences for high-sugar, high-fat and high-sodium food. This way of defining eating pleasure is associated with overeating, loss of control and poor diet quality [ 21 , 39 ]. However, other approaches to define eating pleasure have been proposed in the literature [ 21 , 42 – 44 ]. For example, Cornil & Chandon [ 21 ] contrast short-term visceral pleasure with what they call epicurean eating pleasure, or “the enduring pleasure derived from the aesthetic appreciation of the sensory and symbolic value of food”. This definition includes not only food characteristics (i.e., taste and appearance) but also other dimensions of the eating experience such as social eating and cooking. They showed that, unlike visceral pleasure, those scoring high on epicurean pleasure preferred smaller portions and displayed a higher level of well-being [ 21 ]. Interestingly, epicurean eating pleasure displays similarities with the dimensions of eating pleasure identified in some qualitative studies [ 42 – 44 ]. These studies underline the multidimensional nature of eating pleasure, suggesting it includes dimensions related to food characteristics, the individual, the environment and the social context. The wide variety of definitions of eating pleasure could thus lead to inconsistencies in assessments of the relationship between eating pleasure and healthy eating. Establishing a common understanding of eating pleasure therefore requires identifying its key dimensions and using these to analyze in more detail how eating pleasure is associated with dietary behavior and health outcomes.

Considering the increased interest within the scientific and clinical communities in the integration of eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating, a comprehensive mapping of current knowledge about this topic is essential to inform health professionals and policymakers whether and how the pleasure of eating can be a lever for healthy eating. This will also help to identify gaps that will guide next research efforts in this area. In this comprehensive scoping review we therefore aimed to (1) identify the key dimensions of eating pleasure; (2) map the data currently available about associations of eating pleasure, and its key dimensions, with dietary behaviors and health outcomes and (3) identify most promising intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy eating. Scoping review design represents a rigorous methodology that allows comprehensive assessment of emerging evidence, and a first step in research development [ 45 ]. This technique aims to map the key concepts, types of evidence available, and gaps in research related to a defined field by systematically searching, selecting, and synthesizing existing knowledge [ 46 , 47 ]. This is particularly relevant to disciplines with emerging evidence, since researchers can incorporate a range of study designs in both published and grey literature, and address questions beyond those related to intervention effectiveness [ 48 ]. Accordingly, a scoping review was deemed more appropriate than a systematic review or a meta-analysis in the present context because (1) the objectives address a broad, multidisciplinary topic, (2) this topic has been explored using a range of research designs and (3) this complex and emerging topic has not been reviewed comprehensively before, thereby preventing the identification of more specific objectives that can be the focus of a systematic review or a meta-analysis [ 49 ].

Based on the Arksey and O’Malley methodological framework for scoping reviews [ 47 ] and enhanced according to the recommendations of Levac et al. aimed at clarifying each stage of the framework [ 48 ], six steps were performed: (1) identifying the research question, (2) identifying relevant studies, (3) selecting eligible studies, (4) charting the data, (5) collating, summarizing, and reporting results and (6) consultation. The study protocol has been registered on Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/5p7b8/ ) [ 50 ].

Step 1: Identifying the research questions and eligibility criteria

Research questions..

The purpose of this review was to assess whether and how eating pleasure can be a lever for healthy dietary behaviors and health. Accordingly, three research questions were addressed:

• Q1: How is eating pleasure conceptualized (i.e., key dimensions) in scientific research and organization/government documents?
• Q2: What is the current available scientific evidence about associations of eating pleasure, and its key dimensions, with dietary behaviors and health outcomes?
• Q3: What are the most promising strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy dietary behaviors identified through intervention studies?

In parallel, this review sought to identify gaps that research efforts should address to further explore the place of eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating, and to inform health professionals and policymakers about how to use eating pleasure in their practical strategies.

Our scoping review was conducted between February 2018 and August 2019. It was conceptualized (SL and AB) and reviewed by coauthors with expertise in scoping review methodology (VP and SD).

Population and context.

The population targeted was individuals of at least five years old, with no specific condition that would interfere with eating pleasure or alter the perception of eating pleasure. We decided not to include individuals under the age of five because we were interested in eating pleasure as experienced or reported by the individuals themselves, and children under five may have some trouble reporting explicit, conscious judgements due to their limited cognitive maturity, and especially language development [ 51 ]. As a result, eating pleasure is usually measured in infants and young children using observer-based measures or parent-rated measures [ 51 , 52 ]. Intervention strategies may also be very different at these ages, focusing more on play-based approaches and often related to neophobia and food familiarity [ 53 – 58 ]. In addition, as we wanted to identify strategies that could be applied in interventions aiming to prevent nutrition-related chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases), we excluded documents targeting people with conditions requiring a strict diet or increased dietary intake. Finally, since issues related to healthy eating differ between underdeveloped and developed countries [ 59 ], only studies conducted in developed countries (i.e., countries with high and very high human development index according to the Human Development Report 2016 [ 60 ]) were considered for inclusion.

No a priori definition for eating pleasure was used since we aimed to conceptualize eating pleasure by identifying its key dimensions in this review. Scientific research referred to peer-reviewed literature and theses/dissertations. Given that this is an emerging area in the scientific literature a broad range of articles and study designs were considered, including but not limited to qualitative, cross-sectional, retrospective, prospective, intervention and mixed methods studies. Organization/government documents referred to guidelines, health-promotion tools, reports, and program descriptions published by a health-related organization (i.e., an organization whose ultimate mission is to promote and/or foster the health of individuals/populations) or government. Dietary behavior was defined as any actions associated with the act of eating. Health was defined according to the definition of the World Health Organization (“a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [ 61 ]). A promising strategy was defined as an intervention method that led to a significant and beneficial impact on dietary behavior and/or health outcomes.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

In addition to responding to our research questions, documents considered for inclusion were: 1) mainly focused on eating pleasure dimensions or reporting data about the links between eating pleasure and dietary behavior and/or health outcomes; 2) targeting individuals of at least five years old; 3) written in English or in French (languages spoken by the research team); 4) conducted in developed countries and 5) interested in eating pleasure as experienced or reported by the individuals themselves. Excluded sources were those that 1) reported results in animals, 2) targeted individuals with a specific condition that would require a strict diet or an increased dietary intake (e.g., type 1 diabetes, malnutrition, decreased appetite, neophobia), 3) targeted people with a condition that may interfere with eating pleasure or alter the perception of eating pleasure (e.g., depression, eating disorder pathologies, pain), 4) reported research objectives aiming to evaluate eating pleasure in relation to a specific food/food group (except for vegetables and fruits, as they are considered as the cornerstone of a healthy diet [ 62 ]) and 5) described eating pleasure only in terms of the biological reward mechanisms (e.g., with brain imaging). Conference abstracts, proceedings of symposiums or conferences, editorials, expert opinions, blogs, books, book chapters, book reviews and literature reviews were also excluded.

Step 2: Identifying relevant studies

With the collaboration of a librarian specializing in nutrition, we developed a comprehensive search strategy using both specific keywords and controlled vocabulary (i.e., standardized terms used by database indexers to describe and categorize articles based on content) related to eating and pleasure. Using May 6, 2018, as a cut-off date, we searched eight electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature: Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, ERIC, Web of Science, CINAHL, ABI/Inform global and Sociology Abstract. This range of databases allowed us to capture a comprehensive sample from the many disciplines related to eating pleasure, namely medical sciences, nutrition, psychology, business, public health, education and sociology. Search terms were adapted for each database and combined using Boolean operators to narrow the results. No date restrictions were implemented in the search. As an example, the Medline search strategy is presented in Table 1 . Strategies for other databases are available in S1 Table . The references of included studies were also scanned to identify other relevant results. To conceptualize eating pleasure in a more comprehensive way and to retrieve unpublished studies, we conducted additional searches in the grey literature using ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (cut-off date: July 10, 2019) and the search engine “Google” (between July 15, 2019 and August 26, 2019). For Google, simplified search strategies in English and French (when relevant) were developed and validated by the specialized librarian for organization websites (site:.org) and for the government website of each country for which a relevant peer-reviewed article had been identified in peer-reviewed databases (total of 16 government websites; see S1 Table for search strategies). For Google search strategies, the government websites of the United States, France and Canada as well as organization websites were initially searched. For each of these, the first 100 hits were analyzed. Since the Google engine displays results by relative importance using a link analysis algorithm [ 63 ] and all relevant websites were in the first Google hits for these first Google searches, for the remaining governments, we decided that if at least one website was identified as relevant in the first group of 20, then the next 20 websites were searched, for up to a maximum of 100 per government search strategy. Finally, suggestions from authors of this scoping review were gathered to identify additional potentially relevant documents from the literature.

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Step 3: Selecting eligible studies

All retrieved records were imported into EndNote software (Version X9), and duplicate records were deleted. First, two reviewers (POL and LMG) and the research assistant (AB) tested the selection process with 250 articles to ensure a shared understanding of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thereafter, the two reviewers independently determined the eligibility of all articles using a two-stage screening process consisting of a title and abstract scan followed by a full-text review. If we were unable to obtain the full text of an article, the research assistant contacted the corresponding author for the article in question. For the Google searches, two reviewers (POL and CTG) determined eligibility after reading each web page in detail. Any discrepancies between the two reviewers were resolved through weekly discussion with the research assistant and, if needed, the principal investigator (SL).

Step 4: Charting the data

A standardized data extraction spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel) was developed by the authors. The following information was extracted: document details, design and methodology, relevant results and authors’ conclusions. Subdomains are outlined in Table 2 . A similar but simplified template was used for web pages. The extraction of data was undertaken by two independent coders (POL and CTG).

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Prior to data extraction, this form was pilot tested by the two coders with ten selected records that were sufficiently different in terms of design and objectives to make sure that the template would be appropriate for different types of publications. The form was revised as needed during the data extraction to extract relevant information as comprehensively as possible. Each of the two coders extracted data for half of the records. The other coder then revised the extracted data and any discrepancies between the two coders were resolved by discussion and consensus. If consensus was not reached, the research assistant was consulted to resolve the disagreement.

Step 5: Collating, summarizing and reporting results

As recommended by Levac et al . [ 48 ], this step was broken into three distinct tasks: (1) analyzing data (including descriptive numerical summary analysis); (2) reporting results and outcomes relevant to the research questions and (3) considering the meaning and implications of the findings for future research, practice and policy. First, a summary of each included document is presented, including the following information: author(s), year of publication, country, publication type, study/document design, journal discipline, first author’s discipline, target population, word(s) used to designate “pleasure”, and objective(s) targeted by the document. For each research question, a quantitative analysis for each relevant characteristic is presented. Second, data outcomes were analyzed and reported according to research questions. For the first research question (Q1: i.e., key dimensions of eating pleasure), documents analyzed were mainly those focusing on the identification of the dimensions of eating pleasure as well as those reporting data about the links between eating pleasure and dietary behavior and/or health outcomes. Each document was uploaded into qualitative NVivo Software (version 10, QSR International, Burlington, MA) and a thematic analysis of the dimensions of eating pleasure was undertaken. A basic tree node structure was built independently by the two coders and the research assistant based on 10 key articles reporting a detailed approach of eating pleasure [ 8 , 42 – 44 , 64 – 69 ]. These basic tree nodes were then pooled together, and each dimension and sub-dimension of eating pleasure was described based on existing definitions and the literature. The two coders then reviewed all documents independently and extracted all dimensions of eating pleasure. New dimensions and sub-dimensions were created as needed during the extraction process. For peer-reviewed articles and theses, only the methodology and results sections were coded in order not to duplicate findings. The two coders met regularly to compare coding and to discuss all new added nodes and those for which agreement was not perfect (kappa coefficient under 100%). Any discrepancies were discussed and resolved with the research assistant. The tree node structure was discussed with the principal investigator at the beginning, middle and end of the extraction process. For the second research question (Q2: i.e., links between eating pleasure and dietary behaviors and health outcomes), the reported outcome was categorized in line with study authors’ judgement as favorable (i.e., eating pleasure was associated with favorable outcomes), unfavorable (i.e., eating pleasure was associated with unfavorable outcomes), mixed (i.e., eating pleasure was associated with both favorable and unfavorable outcomes) or neutral (i.e., eating pleasure was not significantly associated with any outcomes). Outcomes most frequently studied in association with eating pleasure (i.e., diet quality, food choices, portion size, restrained eating, weight/BMI and depressive symptoms) were analyzed separately. Finally, associations between eating pleasure and outcomes were analyzed according to the ways to conceptualize (i.e., dimensions) eating pleasure as identified by coders. For the third research question (Q3: i.e., most promising intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy eating), we included studies evaluating the effect of an intervention using eating pleasure and also studies that showed any increase in eating pleasure in response to their intervention. For these studies, we made sure to give enough information about the nature of intervention groups, data analysis and measurement of outcomes in the text and tables in order to fully understand the context in which these studies were carried out. Finally, a table that groups together the dimensions based on their likely favorable or unfavorable impact and ordering the dimensions based on level of evidence was used to summarize the findings. Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt’s guidelines were used to assess the level of evidence for each dimension [ 70 ]. In this model, evidence is assigned a score from 1 to 7, with 1 being the highest level of evidence. The meaning and implications of the findings for research, practice, and policy, are addressed in the Discussion, along with gaps identified through this review.

Step 6: Consulting with an expert committee

An expert committee was set up at the beginning of the study, including the authors of this study and two research assistants with expertise in scoping review methodology. This expert committee was consulted for their feedback and deeper understanding of the data at each critical step of our scoping review. In addition, to help to put our findings on the dimensions of eating pleasure into perspective and to interpret them in the context of our population, results were compared to those from focus groups addressing perceptions about eating pleasure in the French-Canadian population conducted earlier by our research team [ 42 ].

From the search, 27,974 records were found from the databases and 934 records identified through other sources (hand-searching references, government and organization websites, and expert committee) for a total of 28,908 records imported into Endnote ( Fig 1 ). After exclusion of duplicates, 18,002 records were screened, from which 16,606 were excluded on the basis of Titles/Abstracts. Therefore, 1,396 were reviewed in full and 119 met our eligibility criteria and were included in this review. S2 Table provides the references and characteristics of eligible documents. Some documents addressed more than one of our research questions. Of the 119 records, 110 (92.4%) were used for the identification of dimensions of eating pleasure (Q1), 45 (37.8%) documented the links between eating pleasure and dietary behaviors and health (Q2), and 12 (10.1%) intervention studies were used to identify most promising methods using eating pleasure to promote healthy dietary behaviors (Q3).

a For the exclusion criteria, the reason identified for each document is the one that the coders identified first. This does not exclude the possibility that other criteria were not met. b Some documents addressed more than one research question.

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Q1—Key dimensions of eating pleasure

Description of included documents..

Of the 110 documents that identified dimensions of eating pleasure, 66 (60.0%) were peer-reviewed articles identified through scientific databases, five (4.5%) were theses and dissertations and 39 (35.5%) were governmental or organizational web pages ( Table 3 and S2 Table ). The first author’s discipline of peer-reviewed articles as well as of theses and dissertations (n = 71) was most often psychology (n = 18; 25.4%), followed by business, economy and management (n = 16; 22.5%), nutrition (n = 8; 11.3%) and food sciences (n = 7; 9.9%). For peer-reviewed articles (n = 66), one third (n = 26; 39.4%) were published in a journal for which the major discipline was psychology, followed by nutrition (n = 9; 13.6%), public health (n = 8; 12.1%), food sciences (n = 7; 10.6%), business, economy and management (n = 6; 9.1%). For governmental and health-related organizational web pages (n = 39), 13 (33.3%) were dietary guidelines, 11 (28.2%) were healthy eating promotion tools, nine (23.1%) were reports and six (15.4%) were program descriptions. In total, 88 documents (80.0%) were written in English and 22 (20.0%) in French. Most of the documents were published after 2000 (93.6%), and 70.9% after 2010. Most represented countries were France (n = 28; 25.5%), United States of America (n = 24; 21.8%), Canada (n = 16; 14.5%), Australia (n = 10; 9.1%), Finland (n = 8; 7.3%) and United Kingdom (n = 6; 5.5%). The words most often found to designate "pleasure" were “pleasur*” or “plaisir” (French for pleasure) (n = 58; 52.7%), followed by “enjoy*” (n = 26; 23.6%), “hedon*” (n = 5; 4.5%), “fun” (n = 3; 2.7%), “happiness” (n = 1; 0.9%) or a mix of the above words (n = 17; 15.5%). The populations targeted were young and middle-aged adults in half of the documents (n = 56; 50.9%), followed by children (n = 9; 8.2%), older adults (n = 6; 5.5%), adolescents (n = 5; 4.5%), children and adolescents (n = 4; 3.6%), children, adolescents and young and middle-aged adults (n = 3; 2.7%), children and young and middle-aged adults (n = 2; 1.8%), and adolescents and young and middle-aged adults (n = 1; 0.9%). In addition, 24 (21.8%) documents targeted all population strata.

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Key dimensions of eating pleasure.

The key dimensions of eating pleasure are presented in Table 4 . The dimensions were identified by two independent coders, quoting phrases in documents that could complete the sentence “The pleasure of eating is…”. Eighty-nine eating pleasure sub-dimensions were identified through the literature review and grouped into 22 key dimensions (see S4 Table for the complete description of each sub-dimension). In order of importance, eating pleasure was related to (1) sensory experiences (n = 56; 50.9%; e.g., taste, appearance, texture), (2) social experiences (n = 47; 42.7%; e.g., eating with others, preparing meals with others, respecting shared norms and practices such as culture and traditions), (3) food characteristics besides sensory attributes (n = 30; 27.3%; e.g., healthy, unhealthy, fresh), (4) food preparation process (n = 21; 19.1%; e.g., cooking, gardening, grocery shopping), (5) novelty (n = 18; 16.4%; e.g., discovering new food, dishes and tastes, learning about food), (6) variety (n = 16; 14.5%; e.g., in type of food, flavors and ways that food is prepared), (7) mindful eating (n = 15; 13.6%), (8) visceral eating (n = 14; 12.7%; e.g., eating to reward yourself, to cope with emotions), (9) place where food is consumed (n = 13; 11.8%; e.g., eating at restaurants, eating while travelling, eating at home), (10) memories associated with eating (n = 12; 10.9%), (11) atmosphere where food is consumed (n = 11; 10.0%), (12) psychological and physical state during food intake (n = 11; 10.0%; e.g., experiencing emotions when eating), (13) food anticipation (n = 10; 9.1%), (14) special occasions (n = 10; 9.1%), (15) having the choice (n = 10; 9.1%), (16) food intake structure (n = 9; 8.2%; e.g., diet structure, balanced diet, meal composition), (17) taking time (n = 9; 8.2%), (18) health considerations (n = 8; 7.3%; e.g., balancing pleasure and health, making healthy choices), (19) eating according to food preferences (n = 8; 7.3%), (20) the psychological and physical state after food intake (n = 7; 6.4%; e.g., feeling full), (21) respecting eating habits (n = 4; 3.6%) and (22) ideological considerations (n = 4; 3.6%; e.g., environmental movement).

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Q2. Links between eating pleasure and dietary behavior/health outcomes

Details about characteristics of scientific documents (peer-reviewed articles and theses; n = 45) linking eating pleasure to dietary behavior and health outcomes are presented in Tables 3 and 5 . Most studies were cross-sectional (n = 28; 62.2%), followed by short-term, single exposure intervention studies (n = 8; 17.8%), longer-term, prolonged exposure intervention studies (n = 5; 11.1%), qualitative studies (n = 2; 4.4%), mixed-design studies (n = 1; 2.2%) and prospective studies (n = 1; 2.2%; Table 3 ). Almost all documents were published after 2000 (n = 42; 93.3%), and two thirds were published after 2010 (n = 31; 68.9%; Table 3 ). Studies were carried out in the United States of America (n = 13; 28.9%), United Kingdom (n = 6; 13.3%), France (n = 5; 11.1%), Canada (n = 5; 11.1%), Finland (n = 3; 6.7%), Australia (n = 2; 4.4%), Malaysia (n = 2; 4.4%), Germany (n = 1; 2.2%), Japan (n = 1; 2.2%), Greece (n = 1; 2.2%), Italy (n = 1; 2.2%), Taiwan (n = 1; 2.2%), Vietnam (n = 1; 2.2%) or in multiple countries (n = 3; 6.7%; Table 3 ). Studies included both men (boys) and women (girls) (n = 36; 80.0%) or only women (girls) (n = 6; 13.3%), and in three studies (6.7%), the sex of participants was not specified ( Table 5 ). In total, 126,368 participant units (67.7% women) were included in the analyses of all studies, with sample size ranging from 12 to 50,003 participants. Most studies included young and middle-aged adult participants only (mean age between 18 and 65 years; n = 34; 75.6%) while fewer included adolescents only (n = 4; 8.9%), children only (n = 3; 6.7%), older adults only (n = 2; 4.4%), children and young and middle-aged adults (n = 1; 2.2%), and adolescents and young and middle-aged adults (n = 1; 2.2%). Most studies did not report participants’ BMI (n = 25; 55.6%).

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Measures of eating pleasure.

Tools used in these studies to measure eating pleasure are presented in Table 5 . Eating pleasure was measured using a variety of tools, namely interviews (n = 2) [ 89 , 137 ], pairing and categorization tasks (n = 1) [ 26 ], single items (n = 11) [ 28 , 29 , 76 , 109 , 111 , 140 , 141 , 147 , 148 , 152 , 160 ], multi-item questionnaires developed by authors for the purpose of the study (n = 8) [ 21 , 74 , 112 , 136 , 145 , 148 , 150 , 156 ], adapted versions of existing multi-item questionnaires (n = 7) [ 13 , 33 – 35 , 75 , 157 , 158 ] or existing multi-item questionnaires (n = 13) [ 21 , 25 , 27 , 30 , 36 , 74 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 125 , 126 , 146 , 151 ]. In total, 37 different tools were used to measure eating pleasure: 1 interview process, 2 pairing and categorization tasks, 15 single items and 19 questionnaires. Questionnaires used to measure eating pleasure were (1) the Pleasures Questionnaire (Appleton & McGowan, 2006) [ 156 ], (2) the pleasure subscale of the Health and Taste Attitude Scale (Roininen et al., 1999) [ 25 , 84 , 86 , 88 ], (3) an international survey on the causes and treatment of obesity (Bray et al., 1992) [ 35 ], (4) the Epicurean Eating Pleasure Questionnaire (Cornil & Chandon, 2016) [ 21 ], (5) the external eating and emotional eating subscales of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ; van Strien et al., 1986) [ 21 ], (6) the pleasure subscale of the Dish Choice Questionnaire (Ducrot et al., 2015) [ 27 , 36 ], (7) the enjoyment of food subscale of the Adult’s Eating Behaviors Questionnaire (Hunot et al., 2016) [ 157 ], (8) an emotions questionnaire (Richins, 1997) [ 151 ], (9) the pleasure motivation subscale of the Motivation to Eat Questionnaire (Jackson et al., 2003) [ 145 , 146 ], (10) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire developed by Lindeman et al. (1999) and assessing food choice motives [ 74 ], (11) the pleasure subscale (sensory appeal) of The Food Choice Questionnaire (Steptoe et al. 1995) [ 30 , 74 , 75 ], (12) the enjoyment of food subscale of the self-reported version of the Children’s Eating Behaviors Questionnaire (Loh et al., 2013) [ 158 ], (13) the pleasure eating subscale of the Meanings of Eating Index (MEI; McClain et al., 2011) [ 150 ], (14) a questionnaire assessing hedonic consumption values (Babin et al. 1994) [ 33 ], (15) the pleasure motivation subscale of the Eating Motivation Survey (adapted from Renner et al., 2012) [ 13 , 34 ], (16) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire assessing consumption attitudes (Remick et al., 2009) [ 111 ], (17) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire developed to explore the role of food in life (Rozin et al., 1999) [ 125 , 126 ], (18) the food enjoyment subscale of a questionnaire assessing children’s relationship with food (Ensaff et al., 2016) [ 136 ] and (19) a questionnaire assessing remembered enjoyment (Robinson et al. 2011) [ 148 ]. Nine studies [ 21 , 26 , 28 , 74 , 76 , 136 , 140 , 148 , 152 ] included multiple measures of eating pleasure while six intervention studies [ 7 , 31 , 32 , 37 , 159 , 161 ] that used eating pleasure in their strategies did not measure the impact of their interventions on eating pleasure.

Dietary behavior and health outcomes.

Dietary behavior and health outcomes for each study are presented in Table 5 . Of the 45 studies identified, 31 (68.9%) included only dietary outcomes [ 7 , 13 , 25 – 29 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 75 , 76 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 109 , 111 , 125 , 126 , 136 , 140 , 145 – 148 , 150 – 152 , 159 , 160 , 161 ], 10 (22.2%) only health outcomes [ 30 , 35 , 36 , 74 , 89 , 112 , 137 , 156 – 158 ] and 4 (8.9%) included both dietary and health outcomes [ 21 , 31 , 32 , 141 ].

The dietary outcomes studied were very diverse, the most studied being diet quality (i.e., food/dietary intakes, balanced diet, adherence to nutritional guidelines) (n = 13) [ 13 , 27 – 29 , 32 , 33 , 84 , 86 , 109 , 140 , 148 , 150 , 160 ], food choices (n = 8) [ 7 , 26 , 84 , 86 , 125 , 147 , 148 , 160 ], portion size (n = 4) [ 21 , 32 , 37 , 159 ], and restrained eating (n = 4) [ 21 , 31 , 76 , 145 ]. Other dietary outcomes were assessed in two studies or less and comprized emotional eating (n = 2) [ 76 , 145 ], external eating (n = 2) [ 76 , 145 ], intuitive eating (n = 2) [ 31 , 126 ], perceived importance of family meals (n = 2) [ 75 , 111 ], food neophobia/fussiness (n = 2) [ 136 , 141 ], taste description ability (n = 2) [ 136 , 161 ], likelihood to try new food / recipes (n = 2) [ 32 , 136 ], cooking skills (n = 2) [ 136 , 160 ], the amount time spent for cooking/involvement in cooking activities (n = 2) [ 32 , 136 ], the amount of time spent eating meals (n = 2) [ 32 , 109 ], subjective diet-related quality of life (n = 1) [ 29 ], perceived level of importance that individuals place on food (n = 1) [ 88 ], skipping breakfast habit (n = 1) [ 29 ], energy intake (n = 1) [ 27 ], behavioral intentions toward healthy foods (n = 1) [ 151 ], late-night snacking (n = 1) [ 34 ], family meals frequency (n = 1) [ 111 ], eating habits to control weight (n = 1) [ 146 ], perceived ease of making healthy food choices (n = 1) [ 160 ], disinhibition (n = 1) [ 31 ], susceptibility to hunger (n = 1) [ 31 ], mindful eating (n = 1) [ 31 ], worries about calories (n = 1) [ 32 ], nutritional status (n = 1) [ 25 ], alcohol intake (n = 1) [ 32 ], frequency of consuming satisfying meals (n = 1) [ 32 ], the number of meals prepared at home (n = 1) [ 32 ], the use of fresh ingredients (n = 1) [ 32 ], interest in improving cooking skills (n = 1) [ 32 ], the variety of foods used to prepare food (n = 1) [ 32 ], and the purchases of locally grown food, seasonally and organically grown food and healthy food (n = 1) [ 32 ].

The health outcomes were also diverse, the most studied being body weight/BMI (n = 8) [ 21 , 31 , 32 , 35 , 36 , 74 , 157 , 158 ] and depressive symptoms (n = 3) [ 30 , 74 , 156 ]. Other health outcomes assessed in two studies or less were happiness (n = 2) [ 89 , 137 ], satisfaction with life (n = 2) [ 112 , 156 ], symptoms of eating disorders (n = 2) [ 30 , 74 ], anxiety symptoms (n = 1) [ 156 ], well-being (n = 1) [ 21 ], health worries (n = 1) [ 21 ], awareness of thinness pressures (n = 1) [ 74 ], internalization of thinness pressures (n = 1) [ 74 ], appearance dissatisfaction (n = 1) [ 74 ], weight dissatisfaction (n = 1) [ 74 ], self-esteem (n = 1) [ 74 ], self-clarity (n = 1) [ 112 ], neuroticism (n = 1) [ 112 ] and mood (n = 1) [ 141 ].

Links between eating pleasure and dietary/health outcomes.

Summary of associations between eating pleasure and dietary and health outcomes are shown in Fig 2 .

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Among the 35 studies that included dietary outcomes, 20 (57.1%) were cross-sectional studies, eight (22.9%) were short-term, single exposure intervention studies, five (14.3%) were longer-term, prolonged exposure intervention studies, one (2.9%) was a mixed-design study and one (2.9%) was a prospective study. Of these, 20 (57.1%) observed favorable associations between eating pleasure and dietary variables [ 7 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 75 , 88 , 111 , 125 , 126 , 136 , 140 , 147 , 148 , 151 , 159 – 161 ] while six (17.1%) reported unfavorable associations [ 33 , 34 , 76 , 86 , 145 , 152 ], five (14.3%) mixed associations (both favorable and unfavorable associations) [ 13 , 21 , 27 , 37 , 146 ] and four (11.4%) neutral association [ 84 , 109 , 141 , 150 ]. When only intervention studies were considered, we observed that most of the papers (11/13; 84.6%) reported positive dietary outcomes [ 7 , 32 , 125 , 136 , 140 , 147 , 148 , 159 – 161 ], while only one observed mixed effects [ 37 ] and one neutral effect [ 141 ].

When examining diet quality specifically among the different dietary outcomes (n = 13), six studies (46.2%) observed favorable associations between eating pleasure and diet quality [ 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 140 , 148 ] while two (15.4%) reported unfavorable associations [ 33 , 86 ], two (15.4%) mixed associations [ 13 , 27 ] and three (23.1%) reported neutral association [ 84 , 109 , 150 ]. For food choices (n = 8), six studies (75.0%) observed favorable associations [ 7 , 26 , 125 , 147 , 148 , 160 ] while two (25.0%) reported neutral association [ 84 , 86 ]. For portion size (n = 4), two studies (50.0%) observed favorable associations [ 32 , 159 ] while two (50.0%) reported mixed associations [ 21 , 37 ]. Finally, for restrained eating, two studies (50%) reported unfavorable associations [ 21 , 76 ] while two (50.0%) observed neutral association [ 31 , 145 ]. Other dietary outcomes were assessed in two studies or less, therefore separated analysis was not performed for these variables.

Among the 14 studies that documented health outcomes, nine (64.3%) were cross-sectional studies, two (14.3%) were longer-term, prolonged exposure intervention studies, two (14.3%) were qualitative studies and one (7.1%) was a short-term, single exposure intervention study. Of these, three (21.4%) observed favorable associations between eating pleasure and health variables [ 30 , 89 , 137 ] while four (28.6%) reported unfavorable associations [ 35 , 36 , 74 , 157 ], two (14.3%) mixed associations [ 21 , 112 ] and five (35.7%) neutral association [ 31 , 32 , 141 , 156 , 158 ] ( Fig 2 ). Only three intervention studies measured health outcomes and they reported no impact of the eating pleasure-related interventions on these variables.

Most studies linked eating pleasure to a higher weight/BMI (n = 5/8; 62.5%) [ 21 , 35 , 36 , 74 , 157 ], while three studies reported neutral association (37.5%) [ 31 , 32 , 158 ]. In addition, most studies reported neutral association between eating pleasure and depressive symptoms (n = 2/3; 66.7%) [ 74 , 156 ] while one study reported a favorable association (33.3%) [ 30 ]. Other health outcomes were assessed in two studies or less, therefore separate analysis was not performed for these variables.

Links between dimensions of eating pleasure and dietary/health outcomes.

For each article, up to five dimensions of eating pleasure were identified by coders. In order of importance, dimensions studied in relation to dietary outcomes were sensory experiences (n = 12) [ 7 , 21 , 25 , 26 , 33 , 37 , 75 , 76 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 109 ], social experiences (n = 6) [ 27 , 29 , 75 , 111 , 125 , 126 ], visceral eating (n = 5) [ 13 , 21 , 34 , 145 , 146 ], memories associated with eating (n = 4) [ 125 , 126 , 147 , 148 ], food anticipation (n = 4) [ 125 , 126 , 151 , 152 ], psychological and physical state during food intake (n = 3) [ 33 , 150 , 151 ], food characteristics besides sensory attributes (n = 2) [ 27 , 75 ], food preparation process (n = 2) [ 28 , 136 ], novelty (n = 2) [ 27 , 33 ], mindful eating (n = 2) [ 140 , 141 ], variety (n = 1) [ 27 ], the place (n = 1) [ 126 ], food intake structure (n = 1) [ 28 ], food preferences (n = 1) [ 27 ], and psychological and physical state after food intake (n = 1) [ 75 ] ( Table 6 ). No study relating eating pleasure to dietary outcomes conceptualized eating pleasure in terms of atmosphere, eating on special occasions, having the choice, taking time, health considerations, eating habits or ideological considerations.

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In order to evaluate associations between dimensions of eating pleasure and dietary outcomes, we focused on dimensions identified in at least two different documents ( Table 6 ). We found that when eating pleasure was conceptualized using social experiences, 5 out of 6 studies (83.3%) [ 29 , 75 , 111 , 125 , 126 ] showed that eating pleasure was associated with positive dietary outcomes while the percentage of studies showing positive dietary outcomes reached 100% when eating pleasure was conceptualized using food preparation process [ 28 , 136 ] or memories associated with eating [ 125 , 126 , 147 , 148 ]. When eating pleasure was conceptualized as food anticipation, 3 out of 4 studies (75.0%) [ 125 , 126 , 151 ] showed that eating pleasure was associated with positive dietary outcomes. However, when pleasure was conceptualized using the visceral eating dimension, it was mostly associated with negative outcomes (3/5; 60.0%) [ 21 , 34 , 145 ].

Dimensions of eating pleasure studied in relation to health outcomes were fewer in number than when studying dietary outcomes ( Table 6 ). In order of importance, dimensions were sensory experiences (n = 4) [ 21 , 30 , 74 , 89 ], novelty (n = 3) [ 36 , 89 , 137 ], social experiences (n = 2) [ 36 , 112 ], variety (n = 2) [ 36 , 137 ], memories associated with eating (n = 2) [ 89 , 112 ], food characteristics (n = 1) [ 36 ], mindful eating (n = 1) [ 141 ], visceral eating (n = 1) [ 21 ], psychological and physical state during food intake (n = 1) [ 137 ], food anticipation (n = 1) [ 112 ], taking time (n = 1) [ 137 ], and food preferences (n = 1) [ 36 ]. Among those studies, none conceptualized eating pleasure in terms of food preparation process, place, atmosphere, eating on special occasions, having the choice, food intake structure, health considerations, psychological and physical state after food intake, eating habits or ideological considerations.

In order to evaluate associations between dimensions of eating pleasure and health outcomes, we focused on dimensions identified in at least two different documents. When eating pleasure was conceptualized as sensory experiences, 3 out of 4 studies (75%) [ 21 , 30 , 89 ] showed that eating pleasure was associated with positive health outcomes. When eating pleasure was conceptualized as novelty, 2 out of 3 studies (66.7%) [ 89 , 137 ] showed that eating pleasure was associated with positive health outcomes. No dimension identified in at least two documents was predominantly associated with negative outcomes.

Q. 3 –Most promising intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy dietary behaviors

Among the 13 intervention studies identified in this review ( Table 5 ), one was excluded from this analysis since it did not permit identification of intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy dietary behaviors [ 125 ]. In addition, two studies reported results from the same long-term intervention [ 31 , 161 ]. Therefore, 12 intervention papers were included in this analysis [ 7 , 32 , 37 , 136 , 140 , 141 , 147 , 148 , 159 – 161 ], reporting results from 11 independent interventions. Seven (63.6%) were short-term, single exposure interventions while four (36.4%) were longer-term, prolonged exposure interventions. Studies were all published after 2007. Interventions were conducted in the United States of America (n = 3; 27.3%), United Kingdom (n = 3; 27.3%), France (n = 1; 9.1%), Canada (n = 1; 9.1%), Germany (n = 1; 9.1%) or in multiple countries (n = 2; 18.2%). In sum, these intervention studies included 10,243 participants, of whom 7,835 (76.5%) were women, 1,569 (15.3%) were men and 839 (8.2%) for whom the sex was not specified. Sample size ranged from 16 to 7,385 participants. Nine were conducted in young and middle-aged adults only (81.8%), one in children only (9.1%) and one in both children and young and middle-aged adults (9.1%).

Intervention strategies using eating pleasure to promote healthy dietary behaviors.

First, two studies investigated whether inducing a pleasure mindset influences portion sizes and food choices. Hege et al. [ 159 ] investigated whether different mindsets (healthiness mindset, pleasure mindset, fullness mindset) were associated with altered activity in certain brain areas during the pre-meal selection of portion sizes. Results showed that, compared with a control condition, participants reduced their portion sizes when considering eating for health or pleasure while increasing their portion sizes when considering eating to be full until the next meal. Petit et al. [ 7 ] assessed whether drawing attention to the pleasure of eating healthily increased healthy food choices in individuals with a high BMI. Participants evaluated pictures of 64 selected food items in three different “attention conditions” in which participants were either instructed to consider the benefits of eating healthy food (health condition), to consider the pleasure of eating healthily (pleasure condition), or to consider any features of the food that came to their mind (no diet condition). Results showed that participants were more likely to mention that they would eat the pictured healthy foods in the pleasure diet condition than in the no diet condition. Taken together, these results suggest that, compared with a control condition, a pleasure mindset may have favorable effects on portion sizes and food choices.

Four intervention studies investigated whether focusing on sensory sensations influences dietary intakes, eating behaviors and food choices. Gravel et al. [ 31 , 161 ] investigated whether a sensory-based 6-week intervention influenced eating related attitudes and behaviors among restrained women (dieters). Specific themes addressed were the relationship with food, hunger and satiety cues, sensory sensations, and the pleasures associated with eating. Compared with a waiting list control group, women in the sensory-based intervention decreased disinhibition (i.e., the tendency to overeat in response to cognitive or emotional cues), while increasing the intuitive eating subscale related to the unconditional permission to eat and the use of terms associated with the senses and with pleasure to describe food. No effects on restrained eating, susceptibility to hunger, and BMI were observed. Moreover, Cornil and Chandon [ 37 ] investigated how multisensory imagery can make people happier with smaller food portions. During the intervention, participants were asked to vividly imagine the multisensory pleasure (taste, smell, and texture) of three hedonic foods before choosing the size of another hedonic food. This short intervention led to mixed results, showing that, compared with several control conditions (e.g., non-food sensory imagery condition), focusing on sensory pleasure made hungry eaters and nondieters to choose and prefer smaller portions of hedonic foods while sated eaters and dieters chose larger portions. Two interventions using mindful eating strategies and focusing on the sensory properties of food were also performed. Arch et al. [ 140 ] showed that directing participants’ attention as fully as possible towards the pleasure associated with the sensory experience of eating increased the enjoyment of a commonly pleasurable food (chocolate), and a food with generally more mixed associations (raisins), and led to lower calorie consumption of unhealthy food, an effect mediated by greater eating enjoyment as compared with a control condition. Finally, in a study by Hong et al. [ 141 ] participants were randomly assigned to a mindful raisin-eating task condition (i.e., subjects instructed to be nonjudgmental and fully aware, with all senses, of different aspects of the raisin), a non-mindful raisin-eating task (control) condition, or a no-task baseline condition. All participants were thereafter offered different types of food that they could sample. Subjects in the mindful raisin-eating task condition indicated higher levels of enjoyment of the sampled food than did subjects in the two other conditions. However, mindful eating had no effect on the likelihood of trying novel or typically avoided foods. In sum, results suggest that sensory-based interventions can have positive impact on eating behaviors and portion sizes. Mindful eating strategies focusing on the sensory properties of food also seem to increase eating enjoyment and to lower energy intake from unhealthy food while having no impact on the likelihood to sample a novel or typically avoided food.

Two interventions included aspects related to food preparation and/or sharing. Adam et al. [ 160 ] assessed the effectiveness of open, online nutrition and cooking instruction in improving eating behaviors of participants. Results showed that, in addition to increase the percentage of participants who found yesterday’s dinner to be very or extremely enjoyable, the intervention resulted in significant changes in eating behaviors and meal composition, mirroring the messaging of the course. Mean overall perceived ease of making healthy food choices and preparing home cooked meals also increased significantly over time. Ensaff et al. [ 136 ] evaluated Jamie Oliver’s Kitchen Garden Project (JOKGP). This project aims at developing food and cooking skills in children, increase their willingness to try new foods, and gain a better understanding of where food comes from. In the intervention school, children reported an increase in cooking enjoyment. They also reported an increase in helping with cooking at home and taste description score, and a decrease in food neophobia and fussiness. At follow-up, higher scores were reported for the children in the intervention school compared with those from the control school. Taken together, these results suggest that interventions including cooking lessons and sharing increase the enjoyment of eating and cooking, in addition to improving eating behaviors, diet quality, taste description, and involvement in cooking.

Two studies performed by Robinson et al. [ 147 , 148 ] included aspects related to memories. First, they examined the relationship between remembered enjoyment of vegetable eating, predictions about liking vegetables, and vegetable consumption [ 147 ]. Results showed that the recall of positive and enjoyable memories about past vegetable consumption resulted in higher liking for vegetables and the choice of a larger portion size of vegetables when compared with recall of a personal non-food memory, a non-vegetable food memory, or when visualizing someone else enjoying eating vegetables. They then examined if a simple instruction to rehearse what participants found enjoyable about a food immediately after eating it could be used to increase remembered enjoyment of a food (a Mediterranean vegetable quiche) and whether this would result in individuals choosing to eat more of this food at a later date [ 148 ]. Compared with controls (i.e., neutral meal rehearsal of the ingredients in the vegetable quiche and how long it took to eat it), participants in the intervention group showed a 90% increase in the amount of low-energy Mediterranean vegetable quiche chosen and eaten. In sum, these results suggest that recalling enjoyable eating memories related to healthy foods may increase the portion size of these foods later.

Finally, Sasson et al. [ 32 ] assessed the effects of a 3-week study program conducted in Italy that emphasizes the importance of enjoying the cooking and eating experience, taking time to eat, and valuing high-quality, unprocessed food. The program positively influenced behaviors related to food shopping, preparation, eating, and dieting six months later. More precisely, a majority of participants (i.e., 50% or more) reported increases in purchases of olive oil, locally grown food, seasonally and organically grown food, and food from farmers’ markets. The consumption of more satisfying meals, the number of meals prepared at home, the use of fresh ingredients, the interest in improving cooking skills, the variety of foods used to prepare food, the use of olive oil in cooking and trying new recipes were also all increased by the majority of participants. Decreases in portion sizes and in worrying about calories were also observed. This program had no impact on self-reported weight. These results suggest that a more comprehensive intervention using eating pleasure as the core strategy may have many beneficial effects on dietary behaviors.

A summary of findings is presented in Table 7 . This table groups together the dimensions based on their likely favorable or unfavorable impact and presents the dimensions in an order based on the level of evidence. Also, where applicable, intervention strategies that have shown promising effects for each dimension are also presented.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.t007

Many authors now claim that eating pleasure is a promising approach to fostering healthy dietary behaviors [ 19 , 31 , 69 , 142 , 162 ] and some dietary guidelines, such as Canada’s Food Guide [ 22 ], now include the enjoyment of food among their healthy eating recommendations. In spite of this, until now, no comprehensive review assessing the links between eating pleasure and dietary behaviors was available, making difficult to determine whether and how the pleasure of eating can be a lever for healthy eating and health. Our review contributes to filling some important gaps. First, it provides a more comprehensive overview of the key dimensions of eating pleasure, which may serve as a foundation for researchers interested in studying this concept. This literature review also mapped the evidence to date on the links relating eating pleasure with healthy eating and health, a key step for determining whether the pleasure of eating can be a potential ally in the promotion of healthy eating. This review also identified strategies using eating pleasure that seem promising to include in interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating. However, some major gaps remain in our understanding of how to use eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating habits, which we discuss below.

In total, 110 studies were examined for their way to conceptualize eating pleasure, including both scientific and grey literature. The review of the literature suggests that eating pleasure is a multidimensional concept. Indeed, in our qualitative assessment, two independent coders identified 22 different key dimensions used to define eating pleasure. The dimensions most frequently cited were sensory experiences, social experiences, food characteristics besides sensory attributes, food preparation process, novelty, variety, mindful eating, visceral eating, place where food is eaten, and memories associated with eating. This way to conceptualize eating pleasure is much broader than those found in previous reviews, which usually address only one or two dimensions of eating pleasure [ 163 – 168 ]. It is interesting to note that several similarities exist between this broader way to conceptualize eating pleasure and key dimensions we gathered in a study we recently conducted. In our focus groups [ 42 ], participants mostly defined eating pleasure in terms of taste, aesthetics, cooking, sharing a meal, relaxing, variety, nutritional aspects of food, and discovering new foods. In sum, our conceptual framework of eating pleasure provides evidence-based key dimensions and terminology that researchers may use to build consistency in the field and develop our understanding of the role of eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating habits. These results also highlight that eating pleasure may have different meanings, and that it is important for policymakers to clarify what is meant by this term when using it in policies and promotional materials.

The purpose of this scoping review was to assess whether and how eating pleasure can be a lever for healthy dietary behaviors and health. Although results were not uniform across studies, our scoping review highlights that eating pleasure is mostly (57.1%) associated with positive dietary behavior outcomes. This was especially the case for food choices, as six out of eight studies showed favorable links. However, most studies investigating the links between eating pleasure and dietary behavior outcomes were cross-sectional, hindering the assumption of causality between eating pleasure and better dietary behaviors. Nevertheless, when we looked only at intervention studies, we observed even more consistent results. In addition to leading to better diet quality [ 140 , 160 ], healthier portion sizes [ 32 , 37 , 147 , 148 , 159 ] and better food choices [ 7 , 160 ], pleasure-related strategies used in these intervention studies also increased perception of tastiness and the liking of healthy food [ 147 ], time for and perceived ease of cooking and eating [ 32 , 136 , 160 ], proportion of meals prepared at home [ 32 ] and interest in improving cooking skills [ 32 ], while decreasing disinhibition (i.e., the tendency to overeat in response to cognitive or emotional cues) [ 31 ] and food neophobia and fussiness [ 136 ]. However, although these intervention studies had promising results concerning the potential impact of using eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating, these findings still need to be confirmed since to date, only 11 independent intervention studies have been conducted, and these used different methodologies, evaluated different outcomes and most of the time integrated only one or a few dimensions of eating pleasure. This may be explained by the fact that the integration of eating pleasure in the promotion of healthy eating is still at a nascent stage, all intervention studies being published after 2007.

The link between eating pleasure and health outcomes has been less studied and seems more inconsistent. Only two outcomes were studied in more than two studies: body weight/BMI and depressive symptoms. For body weight and BMI, most studies reported that eating pleasure was associated with a higher weight/BMI. However, it is important to note that the two intervention studies that documented weight/BMI observed a neutral effect. Three cross-sectional studies also assessed the link between eating pleasure and depressive symptoms, with 2 out of 3 studies showing no association between these two variables. This literature review therefore highlights a gap in research on links between eating pleasure and health-related variables, including body weight but also other health indicators less studied such as depression and anxiety symptoms, well-being, self-esteem and body weight dissatisfaction.

Tools used to measure eating pleasure in studies examining the links between eating pleasure and dietary and health outcomes used a great variety of approaches. In total, 37 different tools were used to measure eating pleasure, which greatly compromises comparisons across studies. As there seems to be no universal definition of eating pleasure in the literature, authors could define this concept according to their own perception. Inconsistent approaches and measurement of eating pleasure between studies may be at least partly responsible of divergence in results reported. The development of standardized and validated measurement tools is thus essential to have a better understanding of the links relating eating pleasure, and its key dimensions, with dietary and health outcomes.

To overcome the inconsistency in the measurement of eating pleasure, we decided to describe the associations between eating pleasure and dietary and health outcomes, taking into consideration the different dimensions that defined eating pleasure in each study. On the one hand, when eating pleasure was conceptualized as sensory experiences, mindful eating, memories, social experiences, food preparation process and food anticipation, favorable dietary outcomes were reported in the literature. In addition, findings from intervention studies suggested that sensory-based interventions (e.g., food-tasting activities; multisensory imagery), mindful eating strategies focusing on the sensory experience of eating, the rehearsal of enjoyable eating memories related to healthy foods, cooking lessons/experiences and sharing activities may result in beneficial effects on dietary behaviors. It is worth noting that these findings are consistent with those of other studies that did not specifically focus on eating pleasure, but that observed favorable outcomes using similar intervention strategies as those identified as promising in this review [ 169 – 172 ]. On the other hand, visceral eating pleasure, defined as eating pleasure associated with short-term visceral impulses triggered by hunger, external cues or internal emotional urges, was more strongly related to detrimental effects on dietary outcomes according to cross-sectional studies. For health outcomes, most cross-sectional studies found that sensory experiences and novelty were favorably associated with these outcomes. Taken together, these results suggest that the different dimensions of eating pleasure are characterized by a specific pattern of associations with dietary and health outcomes, some being more favorable than others. These promising avenues may then inform whether and how the pleasure of eating can be a lever for healthy eating. However, even if this review was an essential first step to propose impactful strategies in the promotion of healthy eating, it will be essential for health professionals and policymakers to tailor messages and intervention strategies to fit the local context, including social, cultural and socioeconomic factors, to ensure that these strategies are well aligned with community needs and interests. Additional steps, including a comprehensive needs assessment, are therefore needed before using these promising strategies in policies and dietary interventions within a specific population.

It is important to highlight some gaps identified by this review. First, considering the high number of dimensions of eating pleasure (89 sub-dimensions grouped into 22 key dimensions), some of these have been less studied (e.g., place and atmosphere where food is consumed, eating on special occasions, having the choice, taking time). The lack of studies, however, does not necessarily indicate that these dimensions of eating pleasure are not favorably or unfavorably related to dietary behaviors and health outcomes. Rather, these findings highlight the fact that research on the pleasure of eating in the context of promoting healthy eating is still in its infancy and further studies are needed to get a more comprehensive perspective on the place of eating pleasure, and its multiple dimensions, in the promotion of healthy eating. In addition, some limitations of the included intervention studies need to be highlighted. First, intervention studies were more likely to include only one dimension of eating pleasure, to be short-term single exposure interventions, and to be performed with women. However, some reasons may explain these methodological choices. Short-term exposure can be more easily used to test hypotheses at the outset, allowing to identify more efficiently dimensions of eating pleasure that seem to be more promising in the promotion of healthy eating. These promising dimensions can then be tested in larger, longer-term interventions. Also, the testing of one dimension at a time allows for a better assessment of the impact of this dimension on the variables of interest, which can be very useful when designing more complex interventions afterwards. The fact that more women have been included in previous intervention studies is congruent with what is observed in other systematic reviews in nutrition, highlighting most of the time a greater proportion of women than men in these studies [ 173 – 176 ]. These gender disparities may be explained by gender-specific differences in many areas of nutrition, including the fact that women have a greater interest in nutrition and seek nutrition counselling more frequently than men do [ 177 ]. Finally, no intervention study examined the effectiveness of intervention strategies by sex, age or BMI, and only two comprehensive intervention studies using different dimensions of eating pleasure were reported in the present review [ 31 , 32 ]. Therefore, these findings highlight some research gaps and the need for conducting well-developed and evidence-based intervention studies before reaching a firm conclusion about the place of eating pleasure, and its multiple dimensions, in interventions aiming to promote healthy eating.

Methodological strengths and limitations

This scoping review has many methodological strengths. First, the search strategy was developed with the help of a librarian specializing in nutrition-related research, limiting the risk of missing relevant documents. The search strategy included a wide range of databases, allowing us to capture a comprehensive sample from the many disciplines related to eating pleasure. In addition, the search strategy included both scientific and grey literature, allowing for a more comprehensive approach of eating pleasure. A rigorous methodology comprising two independent coders (one specialized in nutrition and one specialized in social sciences) who reviewed evidence at each step of the scoping review resulted in a substantial reduction in possible errors. In addition, the use of the scoping review per se is a strength, allowing us to address a broad, multidisciplinary topic using a wide range of research designs. Finally, we used the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews checklist to report these results, ensuring methodological and reporting quality [ 178 ]. Some limitations of the present review must also be acknowledged. First, we included only studies conducted in developed countries, with participants aged 5 years old and older, limiting the generalization of our results. Second, we reviewed only documents written in English or French, thus we cannot exclude the possibility that we missed some studies. Finally, several documents mentioned dimensions of eating pleasure only very briefly, thus making interpretation difficult for coders. In order not to bias the results of this review, the coders therefore analyzed them as they were described, without over-interpreting them. Accordingly, we do not exclude the possibility that some dimensions can be combined in further analyses.

This comprehensive review of the literature about eating pleasure showed that this concept involves numerous key dimensions. It showed favorable links between eating pleasure and dietary outcomes and identified promising strategies for using eating pleasure in intervention strategies. However, the role occupied by studies evaluating the effects of eating pleasure on healthy eating is still minimal, and additional well-developed and evidence-based intervention studies are needed before reaching a firm conclusion about the place that eating pleasure, and its multiple dimensions, should occupy in the promotion of healthy eating.

Supporting information

S1 table. search strategies (other than medline)..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.s001

S2 Table. Characteristics of included documents.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.s002

S3 Table. Description of disciplines.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.s003

S4 Table. Key dimensions of eating pleasure, with description of sub-dimensions.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.s004

S1 File. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244292.s005

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Mylène Turcotte and Annie Lapointe for their valuable assistance in the scoping review process. They also thank the specialized librarian, Daniela Zavala Mora, for her help in developing the comprehensive search strategy, and Louisa Blair for copyediting the article.

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• 135. Gouvernement du Canada. Amélioration des compétences culinaires: Synthèse des données probantes et des leçons pouvant orienter l'élaboration de programmes et de politiques [Internet]. 2010 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/fr/sante-canada/services/publications/aliments-et-nutrition/amelioration-competences-culinaires-synthese-donnees-probantes-leacons-pouvant-orienter-elaboration-programmes-politiques.html .
• 138. Goutons un monde meilleur. Mieux manger en 6 gestes [Internet]. 2011 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://www.alimenterre.org/system/files/ressources/pdf/292_mieux-manger-en-6-gestes.pdf .
• 139. République Française. Recommandations sur l'alimentation, l'activité physique & la sédentarité pour les adultes [Internet]. 2019 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://pole-sante.creps-vichy.sports.gouv.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DP-Reco-Nutritionnelles-220119.pdf .
• 143. Australian Government. Choosing nutritious foods [Internet]. 2015 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/eating-well/tips-eating-well/choosing-nutritious-foods .
• 144. Government of Canada. Canada's Food Guide: Healthy eating for holidays and events [Internet]. 2019 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/holidays-and-events/ .
• 153. République Française. Ministère de l'éducation nationale et de la jeunesse. Éducation à l'alimentation et au goût [Internet]. 2019 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://www.education.gouv.fr/cid115024/education-nutritionnelle.html .
• 155. Government of Canada. Canada's Food Guide: Cultures, food traditions and healthy eating [Internet]. 2019 [cited 23 June 2020]. Available from: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/enjoy-your-food/cultures-food-traditions-and-healthy-eating/ .
• 170. Warren JM, Smith N, Ashwell M. A structured literature review on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating and intuitive eating in changing eating behaviours: effectiveness and associated potential mechanisms. Cambridge University Press. 2017; 30: 272–283.

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Engaging Children in Reading for Pleasure: A Better Beginnings Project Linking Libraries with Primary Schools

2015, Libri

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Literature Review for Pleasure

The importance of reading in my life, both for research and personal pleasure

March 9, 2018 | Rounaq B.

Literature review – nothing strikes terror into a graduate student’s heart more than these two words! You can’t live with it, you can’t live without it. Considered an essential part of research, you print hundreds of papers till the printer’s ink and/or paper runs out, read tens of papers with multiple naps in between, and understand five (maybe fewer?). It is a laborious and time-consuming task, but you need to do it anyway.

If you spend most of your time reading papers, why in the world would you want to spend more time reading, right? You’d call me crazy if I even suggested the thought of doing a literature review for pleasure. Hold on, this is a different kind of reading: reviewing literature, not literature review. I’m talking about reading novels. Now that’s literature, as the purists would say.

A bookish child

From the time I was a child, I have been an avid reader thanks to my father’s staunch belief that a book is a far more effective tool to keep kids occupied than any other medium. While he was right back then, I feel that times have changed when I see kids playing on iPads and cellphones. It was quite different back then. My friends and I read for fun, and then, like foolhardy believers, we tried to emulate the Famous Five or the Secret Seven. We even had passwords for entering a certain secret cave which, in hindsight, was neither secret nor a cave.

Every time my father went on a trip, he would bring back a new paperback for me to devour. By the time I reached high school, my library had grown quite large indeed and occupied half of my room. An attempt at organizing the books in lexicographic order ended in failure due to the sheer volume (see what I did there?) of books in my possession. I also remember “borrowing” books from his library that I wasn’t permitted to read at that age. I was moved to tears after reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and that was how he found out. Surprisingly, he did not get angry and explained why certain books were meant for a certain age to fully appreciate the content. I always asked for permission after that… no, I continued borrowing, but I took into account my father’s words when the content was a bit beyond my experience.

A Kindle-ish college student

I had to leave almost all of my books behind when I moved to college. That was when I decided to make a tradeoff and moved to the digital medium. Trust me, even today, there is nothing more pleasing than holding a new paperback in my hands with the smell of fresh paper and the excitement of a new story waiting to be discovered. But the convenience of being able to read all of my favorite books at a moment’s notice has made the Amazon Kindle my go-to device. However, college left me with little time to read and my Kindle was abandoned (but not forgotten). Moving back home with all my paperbacks proved to be quite an experience. I never realized that I had accumulated over 30 pounds of books and transporting them cost an arm and a leg. I decided to stick to the Kindle when I moved to MIT. Adjusting to the demanding new schedule took a while but I am back on track and consciously try to read for a few hours on weekends.

Always a reader

I am currently in a Stephen King phase after having been on a Jhumpa Lahiri reading spree last year. Several of King’s works have been translated into movies, so it would be interesting to watch them and ponder on the age-old question: “Is the book better than the movie?” Honestly, I have almost always found the book to be better. Perhaps because a director’s vision and visual effects are no match for the vast expansive world(s) created by our own imagination.

We are all swamped with life’s demands and responsibilities but it is important to take time out for yourself. One of the most relaxing activities you can engage in is reading. Read because you can explore new worlds, read because you can live other lives, read because you can empathize, read because you can experience new ideas, read because you can. So, my fellow academics, do your literature review along with reviewing literature, and you can thank me when we meet. Till then, happy reading trails!

Tech tips for Kindle owners

Send an email to your Kindle account email ( [email protected] ) using “Convert” as the subject with PDF or EPUB files attached and the files will get synced to your Kindle the next time you connect to the internet from the device.

Use the free software Calibre to change file formats. The most commonly used operation is MOBI to EPUB since Kindle is not able to read MOBI files.

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• How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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Table of contents

What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

• Quick Run-through
• Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
• Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

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Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

• Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
• Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
• Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
• Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models, and methods?
• Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

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To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

Scribbr slides are free to use, customize, and distribute for educational purposes.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

• To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
• To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
• To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
• To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
• To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

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