Abstract
Several versions of the dot probe detection task are frequently used to assess maladaptive attentional processes associated with a broad range of psychopathology and health behavior, including eating behavior and weight. However, there are serious concerns about the reliability of the indices derived from the paradigm as measurement of attentional bias toward or away from salient stimuli. The present paper gives an overview of different attentional bias indices used in psychopathology research and scrutinizes three types of indices (the traditional attentional bias score, the dynamic trial-level base scores, and the probability index) calculated from a pictorial version of the dot probe task to assess food-related attentional biases in children and youngsters with and without obesity. Correlational analyses reveal that dynamic scores (but not the traditional and probability indices) are dependent on general response speed. Reliability estimates are low for the traditional and probability indices. The higher reliability for the dynamic indices is at least partially explained by general response speed. No significant group differences between youth with and without obesity are found, and correlations with weight are also non-significant. Taken together, results cast doubt on the applicability of this specific task for both experimental and individual differences research on food-related attentional biases in youth. However, researchers are encouraged to make and test adaptations to the procedure or computational algorithm in an effort to increase psychometric quality of the task and to report psychometric characteristics of their version of the task for their specific sample.
Highlights
Different theoretical accounts on problematic eating, overweight, and obesity propose that food stimuli automatically attract visual attention, in individuals with overweight and weight concerns (e.g., Appelhans, 2009; Berridge, 2009; Appelhans et al, 2016; Tanofsky-Kraff et al, 2020)
The present study investigated whether attentional bias toward food could be meaningfully assessed in a youth sample of children with and without obesity, using a pictorial version of the dot probe task
Attempting to save the case for the dot probe, we sought to examine the psychometric properties of the task in a comprehensive manner by scrutinizing different indices of attentional bias that could be calculated from our version of the task, with pictures selected from the Food-Pics database (Blechert et al, 2014) administered to children and adolescents aged 7–19, with and without obesity
Summary
Different theoretical accounts on problematic eating, overweight, and obesity propose that food stimuli automatically attract visual attention, in individuals with overweight and weight concerns (e.g., Appelhans, 2009; Berridge, 2009; Appelhans et al, 2016; Tanofsky-Kraff et al, 2020). Irrespective of the decennia-old abundance of literature discussing the limitations of behavioral reaction time paradigms to assess individual differences in biased attention and the static or dynamic nature of attentional processes (Schmukle, 2005; Field et al, 2016; Rodebaugh et al, 2016; Goodhew and Edwards, 2019), scholars investigating attention bias to food and developers of innovative theory-based interventions targeting these processes (Eichen et al, 2017; Kemps et al, 2020) keep on using reaction time tasks, including the dot probe task, in their work, often without evaluating psychometric properties of the specific test in the specific study sample This practice urged the effort to establish evidence for the use of a pictorial dot probe task to investigate food-related attentional biases in youth with and without obesity. Reliability (in terms of performance stability) of the indices will be evaluated by comparing performance in the first part of the task with performance in the second part
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call