scholarly journals The Role of Attentional Bias in Excessive Food Consumption

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dayna Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Eating Behaviour ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Distraction Effect ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Food Images ◽  
Trait Factors ◽  
High Calorie

<p>New Zealand obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions. Excessive eating not only harms individual health, but also the NZ economy; health-related costs soar with rising obesity rates. The need to understand possible mechanisms driving excessive eating behaviour is now crucial. One cognitive mechanism thought to contribute to excessive eating is an attentional bias towards food stimuli. We propose this bias would be similar to the attentional bias that is consistently shown with emotional stimuli (e.g. erotic and mutilation images). In this thesis I examined attentional biases towards food stimuli and how they relate to both state (hunger) and trait (waist circumference) factors. In Experiment 1, I investigated the existence of a food-related attentional bias and whether this bias is stronger towards high calorie food images, compared to low-calorie and non-food images (household objects). Participants were asked to fast for 2 hours (to promote self-reported hunger) before completing a distraction task. This task has repeatedly shown an attentional bias to high arousal emotional images (erotic and mutilation scenes). On each trial, participants had to determine whether a target letter was a ‘K’ or an ‘N’, while ignoring centrally-presented distractors (high calorie, low calorie and household object images). Compared to scrambled images, all image types were similarly distracting. We found no support for the existence of an attentional bias towards food stimuli; nor did we find a significant association between the bias and either state or trait factors. Experiment 2 sought to conceptually replicate Cunningham & Egeth (2018) who found significant support for the existence of a food-related attentional bias. Participants completed a similar task. However, distractor relevance was manipulated by incorporating both central and peripheral distractors, to increase ecological validity. Additionally, participants were asked to fast for longer (4 hours) to increase self-reported hunger. Despite a significant distraction effect (participants were more distracted on distractor present vs. distractor absent trials) and distractor-location effect (participants were more distracted by central vs. peripheral distractors), participants did not exhibit an attentional bias towards food stimuli. Furthermore, no significant associations between the bias and either state or trait factors were found. Thus, food stimuli do not appear to rapidly capture attention the way that emotional stimuli do, at least not in this task. Future research is needed to clarify the role of cognitive mechanisms in excessive eating behaviour.</p>

scholarly journals The Role of Attentional Bias in Excessive Food Consumption

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dayna Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Eating Behaviour ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Distraction Effect ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Food Images ◽  
Trait Factors ◽  
High Calorie

<p>New Zealand obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions. Excessive eating not only harms individual health, but also the NZ economy; health-related costs soar with rising obesity rates. The need to understand possible mechanisms driving excessive eating behaviour is now crucial. One cognitive mechanism thought to contribute to excessive eating is an attentional bias towards food stimuli. We propose this bias would be similar to the attentional bias that is consistently shown with emotional stimuli (e.g. erotic and mutilation images). In this thesis I examined attentional biases towards food stimuli and how they relate to both state (hunger) and trait (waist circumference) factors. In Experiment 1, I investigated the existence of a food-related attentional bias and whether this bias is stronger towards high calorie food images, compared to low-calorie and non-food images (household objects). Participants were asked to fast for 2 hours (to promote self-reported hunger) before completing a distraction task. This task has repeatedly shown an attentional bias to high arousal emotional images (erotic and mutilation scenes). On each trial, participants had to determine whether a target letter was a ‘K’ or an ‘N’, while ignoring centrally-presented distractors (high calorie, low calorie and household object images). Compared to scrambled images, all image types were similarly distracting. We found no support for the existence of an attentional bias towards food stimuli; nor did we find a significant association between the bias and either state or trait factors. Experiment 2 sought to conceptually replicate Cunningham & Egeth (2018) who found significant support for the existence of a food-related attentional bias. Participants completed a similar task. However, distractor relevance was manipulated by incorporating both central and peripheral distractors, to increase ecological validity. Additionally, participants were asked to fast for longer (4 hours) to increase self-reported hunger. Despite a significant distraction effect (participants were more distracted on distractor present vs. distractor absent trials) and distractor-location effect (participants were more distracted by central vs. peripheral distractors), participants did not exhibit an attentional bias towards food stimuli. Furthermore, no significant associations between the bias and either state or trait factors were found. Thus, food stimuli do not appear to rapidly capture attention the way that emotional stimuli do, at least not in this task. Future research is needed to clarify the role of cognitive mechanisms in excessive eating behaviour.</p>

scholarly journals Is there a memory bias for high calorie food images?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M Seitz ◽  
Josefa Equita ◽  
A. Janet Tomiyama ◽  
Aaron Blaisdell
Keyword(s):  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Recall Memory ◽  
Food Images ◽  
Presentation Procedure ◽  
Image Type ◽  
High Calorie

It is unclear if, and to what extent, the human memory system is biased towards food and food relevant stimuli. Drawing upon existing demonstrations of attentional biases to high calorie food images, and findings that evolutionarily relevant stimuli are preferentially remembered, we hypothesized that images of high calorie foods would be better remembered than images of low calorie foods and nonfood items. Investigating this is important because a general bias towards remembering high calorie images might facilitate greater incentive learning towards these images which could result in cue-induced overconsumption. We tested this in two pre-registered, within-subject studies (ns = 38). In Experiment 1, using a rapid stream visual presentation procedure and recognition memory test, we found no effect of image type (high calorie, low calorie, nonfood) on recognition for previously seen images (F &lt; 1.0). However, we did observe fewer correct rejections (i.e. more false memories) for novel low calorie images. In Experiment 2, we used a longer encoding procedure and free recall memory test and similarly failed to observe an effect of image type on recall (F &lt; 1.0). We did discover several other factors that correlate with image memory which we discuss along with the implications of these results and directions for future research.

scholarly journals Examining the role of thin-ideal internalization in the relationship between reactions to high- and low-calorie food and eating pathology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Wilson ◽  
Stephen D Benning ◽  
Sarah Elizabeth Racine
Keyword(s):  
Blink Reflex ◽  
Eating Pathology ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Thin Ideal ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Thin Ideal Internalization ◽  
Startle Blink ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
High Calorie

Motivational responses to both body and food stimuli are relevant for eating disorders (EDs). Thin-ideal internalization, a socio-cognitive factor implicated in EDs, has been associated with approach responses toward thin bodies and avoidant responses to overweight bodies. Research examining reactions to food in EDs has been mixed, with some studies reporting enhanced approach and others observing avoidant responses to food. Thin-ideal internalization may help to explain these mixed findings, as individuals with eating pathology may experience food as a threat to internalized ideals of thinness, despite its inherently appetitive qualities. In the present study, physiological reflexes measuring aversive (startle blink reflex) and appetitive (postauricular reflex) responding as well as self-report ratings were recorded while 87 women with and without eating pathology viewed images of high- and low-calorie food. Greater global eating pathology, but not thin-ideal internalization, was associated with negative self-report valence ratings and lower craving ratings of high-calorie food. Thin-ideal internalization was related to more positive self-report ratings of low-calorie food, and low-calorie food ratings were related to eating pathology indirectly through thin-ideal internalization. Overall, thin-ideal internalization may represent a higher-order factor that influences conscious reactions to food.

scholarly journals No evidence of calorie-related modulation of N2 in food-related Go/No-Go training: a pre-registered ERP study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Aulbach ◽  
Ville Johannes Harjunen ◽  
Michiel Spape ◽  
Keegan Phillip Knittle ◽  
Ari Haukkala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Diagnostic Value ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Calorie Content ◽  
Food Images ◽  
High Calorie

Go/No-Go tasks, which require participants to inhibit automatic responses to images of palatable foods, have shown diagnostic value in quantifying food-related impulses.Moreover, they have shown potential for training to control impulsive eating. To test a suggested hypothesis that training modulates early neural markers of responseinhibition, the current study investigated how N2 event-related brain potential to high and low-calorie food images changes along the Go-/No-Go training and how the N2 is related to later eating behavior. Participants first completed a food Go/No-Go task in which high and low calorie food images were accompanied by Go- and No-Go-cues with equal frequency. Participants then completed a training block in which high-calorie foods were predominantly paired with a No-Go cue and the low-calorie foods with a Go cue, followed by a block with reversed coupling (order of the training blocks counterbalanced between participants). After each training, there was a snacking opportunity during which calorie intake was measured. Against our pre-registered hypotheses, the N2 amplitudes were not affected by calorie-content and there was no training-related modulation in the N2. Additionally, food intake did not differ between the preceding training blocks and the N2 amplitude did not predict food intake. Our study suggests that the link between N2 obtained in a food-related Go/No-Go task and impulse control is not clear-cut and may be limited to specific task characteristics. The results are of high importance as they question previously assumed mechanism of Go/No-Go training in food-related inhibitory control.

Evolutionary tendencies: The potential role of a high-calorie bias in food-specific spatial memory on eating behaviour

Appetite ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Rachelle de Vries ◽  
Sanne Boesveldt ◽  
Kees de Graaf ◽  
Emely de Vet
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Eating Behaviour ◽  
High Calorie

scholarly journals Food Addiction Symptoms and Amygdala Response in Fasted and Fed States

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirrilly M. Pursey ◽  
Oren Contreras-Rodriguez ◽  
Clare E. Collins ◽  
Peter Stanwell ◽  
Tracy L. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Food Addiction ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Central Amygdala ◽  
Food Cues ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Low Calorie ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
Food Images ◽  
High Calorie

Few studies have investigated the underlying neural substrates of food addiction (FA) in humans using a recognised assessment tool. In addition, no studies have investigated subregions of the amygdala (basolateral (BLA) and central amygdala), which have been linked to reward-seeking behaviours, susceptibility to weight gain, and promoting appetitive behaviours, in the context of FA. This pilot study aimed to explore the association between FA symptoms and activation in the BLA and central amygdala via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in response to visual food cues in fasted and fed states. Females (n = 12) aged 18–35 years completed two fMRI scans (fasted and fed) while viewing high-calorie food images and low-calorie food images. Food addiction symptoms were assessed using the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Associations between FA symptoms and activation of the BLA and central amygdala were tested using bilateral masks and small-volume correction procedures in multiple regression models, controlling for BMI. Participants were 24.1 ± 2.6 years, with mean BMI of 27.4 ± 5.0 kg/m2 and FA symptom score of 4.1 ± 2.2. A significant positive association was identified between FA symptoms and higher activation of the left BLA to high-calorie versus low-calorie foods in the fasted session, but not the fed session. There were no significant associations with the central amygdala in either session. This exploratory study provides pilot data to inform future studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying FA.

Callous-unemotional traits and the attentional bias towards emotional stimuli: Testing the moderating role of emotional and behavioural problems among high-risk adolescents

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-173
Author(s):  
Edina Szabó ◽  
József Halász ◽  
Antony Morgan ◽  
Zsolt Demetrovics ◽  
Gyöngyi Kökönyei
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Conduct Problems ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Cu Traits ◽  
Callous Unemotional ◽  
Antisocial Youth ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

Former studies demonstrated that antisocial youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are impaired in the processing of negative emotional stimuli. The aim of the current study was to explore the moderating role of different behavioural (i.e. conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention) and emotional problems (i.e. internalizing symptoms) in the relationship between CU traits and attentional bias towards emotional stimuli. Besides using self-report measures, attentional bias was tested by an affective dot-probe task in a high-risk sample of 102 adolescent boys ( M age = 16.34 years; SD = 1.32). CU traits were related to reduced attention to emotionally distressing pictures. Furthermore, conduct problems significantly moderated the relationship between CU traits and attention to distress cues. These findings highlight the importance of considering potential moderators to the well-established link between CU traits and deficits in response to negative emotional cues.

scholarly journals Soleymani, Mazidi, Neimeijer, de Jong (2021). Eating disorder-specific rumination moderates the association between attentional bias to high-caloric foods and eating disorder symptoms: Evidence from a reliable free-viewing eye-tracking task.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Soleymani ◽  
Mazidi ◽  
Renate Niemeijer ◽  
Peter J. de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Dwell Time ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Eating Disorder Symptoms ◽  
Free Viewing ◽  
Food Images

Cognitive theories of eating disorders implicate Attentional Bias (AB) towards food-related information in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Empirical evidence for this proposal, however, has been inconsistent and the measures used to examine AB to food-related stimuli typically showed poor reliability. The aim of the current study was twofold. Firstly, we aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a newly devised eye-tracking task for the assessment of AB in the context of eating disorders. Secondly, we examined the role of Eating Disorder-specific (ED-specific) rumination as a potential moderator of the association between attentional bias to food images and eating disorder symptoms. One hundred and three female students were recruited and completed an eye-tracking task comprising 21 matrices that each contained 8 low-caloric and 8 high-caloric food images. Each matrix was presented for 6 s. First fixation location, first fixation latency and total dwell time were assessed for low and high-caloric food images and the dwell-time based AB measure showed good reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha and split-half method. In addition, the results revealed that the ED-specific rumination plays the hypothesized moderating role. Specifically, while participants with high levels of ED-specific rumination exhibited a positive association between AB to high-caloric foods and eating disorder symptoms, this association was eliminated among participants with lower levels of ED-specific rumination. The employed free-viewing task seems a reliable measure of AB to food-related stimuli and the moderation analysis emphasizes the critical role of ED-specific rumination for eating disorder symptoms. Implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Coping Humor as a Mediator Between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peizhen Sun ◽  
Jennifer J. Chen ◽  
Hongyan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Satisfaction Scale ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Regulation Of Emotion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Overall Job Satisfaction

Abstract. This study investigated the mediating role of coping humor in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction. Participants were 398 primary school teachers in China, who completed the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, Coping Humor Scale, and Overall Job Satisfaction Scale. Results showed that coping humor was a significant mediator between EI and job satisfaction. A further examination revealed, however, that coping humor only mediated two sub-dimensions of EI (use of emotion and regulation of emotion) and job satisfaction. Implications for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.

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