The Role of Negative Affect in Emotional Processing of Food-Related Images in Eating Disorders and Obesity

The aim of the present study was to analyze differences in the emotional processing (valence, arousal, and dominance) of food-related information in patients with eating disorders (ED), patients with obesity, and healthy women. Moreover, the mediator role of negative affect and the moderating role of the diagnostic group (ED vs. non-ED) were analyzed. Method: The sample consisted of 94 women (39 with eating disorders, 19 with obesity, and 36 healthy participants). Measures: International Affective Picture System (IAPS) food picture exposure task; Self-Assessment Manikin Analog-Visual Scale (SAM) appraising Arousal, Valence, and Dominance; Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26); Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Results: Patients with purging symptomatology rated food images as more unpleasant than healthy women. Patients with purging and restrictive eating symptomatology showed higher levels of arousal and less dominance over the emotions experienced, compared to patients with obesity and healthy women. The mediation analysis showed that negative affect mediated the relationship between eating symptomatology (EAT-26) and the Valence of food images, as well as the control over the emotions experienced when viewing food images (Dominance). For the moderation analysis participants were regrouped into two groups (ED patients vs. non-ED patients). The direct relationship between eating symptomatology and food image valence was moderated by the diagnostic group. However, the group did not moderate the direct relationship between the EAT-26 and dominance over experienced emotions, or the indirect effect on eating symptomatology through negative affect. These results show the relevance of negative affect in the emotional processing of food-related information, and they support an eating disorder-disordered eating dimensional perspective.

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Self-harm history predicts resistance to inpatient treatment of body shape aversion in women with eating disorders: The role of negative affect

Journal of Psychiatric Research ◽

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.03.016 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 65 ◽

pp. 37-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bunmi O. Olatunji ◽

Rebecca Cox ◽

Chad Ebesutani ◽

David Wall

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Inpatient Treatment ◽

Body Shape ◽

Self Harm

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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.

10.31234/osf.io/rdj7x ◽

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.

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Neuroticism and Emotional Risk During the COVID-19 Pandemic

10.31234/osf.io/8c6nh ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lara Kroencke ◽

Katharina Geukes ◽

Till Utesch ◽

Niclas Kuper ◽

Mitja Back

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Personality Trait ◽

Large Scale ◽

Affective Responses ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Affective Reactivity ◽

Related Information ◽

Psychological Maladjustment ◽

Shed Light

Large-scale health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may evoke negative affective responses, which are linked to psychological maladjustment and psychopathology. Here, we shed light on the role of the personality trait neuroticism in predicting who experiences negative affective responses. In a large-scale experience-sampling study (N = 1,609; 38,120 momentary reports), we showed that individuals high in neuroticism experienced more negative affect and higher affective variability in their daily lives. Individuals high in neuroticism also (a) paid more attention to COVID-19-related information and worried more about the consequences of the pandemic (crisis preoccupation), and (b) experienced more negative affect during this preoccupation (affective reactivity). These findings offer new insights into the consequences and dynamics of neuroticism in extreme environmental contexts.

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The Role of Negative Affect in Eating Disorders and Substance Use Disorders

Eating Disorders, Addictions and Substance Use Disorders ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-45378-6_16 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 363-378 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Brian J. Cook ◽

Stephen A. Wonderlich ◽

Jason M. Lavender

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Substance Use ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Substance Use Disorders

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Investigating vulnerability to eating disorders: biases in emotional processing

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291709990778 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 645-655 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

A. Pringle ◽

C. J. Harmer ◽

M. J. Cooper

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Risk Group ◽

Eating Attitudes ◽

Social Cues ◽

The Self ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Shape Information ◽

Self Schema ◽

Eat 26

BackgroundBiases in emotional processing and cognitions about the self are thought to play a role in the maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). However, little is known about whether these difficulties exist pre-morbidly and how they might contribute to risk.MethodFemale dieters (n=82) completed a battery of tasks designed to assess the processing of social cues (facial emotion recognition), cognitions about the self [Self-Schema Processing Task (SSPT)] and ED-specific cognitions about eating, weight and shape (emotional Stroop). The 26-item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner et al.1982) was used to assess subclinical ED symptoms; this was used as an index of vulnerability within this at-risk group.ResultsRegression analyses showed that biases in the processing of both neutral and angry faces were predictive of our measure of vulnerability (EAT-26). In the self-schema task, biases in the processing of negative self descriptors previously found to be common in EDs predicted vulnerability. Biases in the processing of shape-related words on the Stroop task were also predictive; however, these biases were more important in dieters who also displayed biases in the self-schema task. We were also able to demonstrate that these biases are specific and separable from more general negative biases that could be attributed to depressive symptoms.ConclusionsThese results suggest that specific biases in the processing of social cues, cognitions about the self, and also about eating, weight and shape information, may be important in understanding risk and preventing relapse in EDs.

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Improving Body Satisfaction

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000206 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 62-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Carolien Martijn ◽

Jessica M. Alleva ◽

Anita Jansen

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Automatic System ◽

Body Satisfaction ◽

Western Society ◽

Related Information ◽

Current Article ◽

Women And Girls

Feelings of body dissatisfaction are common in Western society, especially in women and girls. More than innocent discontent, body dissatisfaction can have serious consequences such as depression and eating disorders. The current article discusses the nature of body dissatisfaction, how it develops and how it is currently being treated. We also discuss novel strategies to increase body satisfaction that work on the automatic system (e.g., by retraining attentional and conditioning processes), since recent research suggests that appearance-related information is processed automatically. We suggest that extant methods should be combined with these novel strategies, in order to optimally improve body dissatisfaction and to prevent its detrimental consequences.

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