Attentional Bias For Food Cues Research Articles

Influencing Factors to Overeating in Restrained Eaters: An Analysis Based on Specific Occupation

Driven by the mainstream aesthetic in society, many people have begun to restrict their diet in pursuit of a better shape. Especially for specific occupations, such as dancers and figure skaters, the requirement of their careers has led to long-term restrained eating to keep a low BMI. However, a large proportion of people fail to restrict their diet or even develop eating disorders such as overeating at the end.Given the necessary restrained eating needs of specific occupation, the reasons why they may still break the dietary boundaries deserve to be investigated.Based on the definitions of restricted eating and overeating, this study summarizes previous research on overeating in restrained eaters, including psychological factors, attentional bias for food cues, lack of inhibitory control, and self-regulatory resource depletion. Then this study consider the particularity of specific occupations, including the influence of peer evaluation and repeated body surveillance, trying to conduct detailed analysis and reasonable inferences on specific influencing factors.Finally, based on the discussion, the study provides possible suggestions for the intervention of overeating and also directions for future empirical research.

Attentional bias for high-calorie food cues by the level of hunger and satiety in individuals with binge eating behaviors.

The abnormal hyperreactivity to food cues in individuals with binge eating behaviors could be regulated by hedonic or reward-based system, overriding the homeostatic system. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether attentional bias for food cues is affected by the level of hunger, maintaining the normal homeostatic system in individuals with binge eating behaviors. A total of 116 female participants were recruited and divided into four groups: hungry-binge eating group (BE) (n = 29), satiated BE (n = 29), hungry-control (n = 29), satiated control (n = 29). While participants completed a free-viewing task on high or low-calorie food cues, visual attentional processes were recorded using an eye tracker. The results revealed that BE group showed longer initial fixation duration toward high-calorie food cues in both hunger and satiety condition in the early stage, whereas the control group showed longer initial fixation duration toward high-calorie food cues only in hunger conditions. Moreover, in the late stage, the BE group stared more at the high-calorie food cue, compared to control group regardless of hunger and satiety. The findings suggest that automatic attentional bias for food cues in individuals with binge eating behaviors occurred without purpose or awareness is not affected by the homeostatic system, while strategic attention is focused on high-calorie food. Therefore, the attentional processing of food cues in binge eating group is regulated by hedonic system rather than homeostatic system, leading to vulnerability to binge eating.

Dynamic attentional bias for pictorial and textual food cues in the visual search paradigm

Previous studies have found that individuals have an attentional bias for food cues, which may be related to the energy level or the type of stimulus (e.g., pictorial or textual food cues) of the food cues. However, the available evidence is inconsistent, and there is no consensus about how the type of stimulus and food energy modulate food-related attentional bias. Searching for food is one of the most important daily behaviors. In this study, a modified visual search paradigm was used to explore the attentional bias for food cues, and eye movements were recorded. Food cues consisted of both food words and food pictures with different energy levels (i.e., high- and low-calorie foods). The results showed that there was an attentional avoidance in the early stage but a later-stage attentional approach for all food cues in the pictorial condition. This was especially true for high-calorie food pictures. Participants showed a later-stage conflicting attentional bias for foods with different energy levels in the textual condition. They showed an attentional approach to high-calorie food words but an attentional avoidance of low-calorie food words. These data show that food-related attentional bias varied along with different time courses, which was also modulated by the type of stimulus and food energy. These findings regarding dynamic attentional bias could be explained using the Goal Conflict Model of eating behavior.

Exercise increases attentional bias towards food cues in individuals classified as overweight to obese

BackgroundThe obesity epidemic continues to be a major public health concern. Although exercise is the most common weight loss recommendation, weight loss outcomes from an exercise program are often suboptimal. The human body compensates for a large percentage of the energy expended through exercise to maintain energy homeostasis and body weight. Increases in energy intake appear to be the most impactful compensatory behavior. Research on the mechanisms driving this behavior has not been fully elucidated. PurposeTo determine if exercise influences the attentional processing towards food cues (attentional bias) and inhibitory control for food cues among individuals classified as overweight to obese who do not exercise. MethodsThirty adults classified as overweight to obese participated in a counterbalanced, crossover trial featuring two assessment visits on separate days separated by at least one week. Attentional bias and inhibitory control towards food cues was assessed prior to and after a bout of exercise where participants expended 500 kcal (one assessment visit) and before and after a 60 min bout of watching television (second assessment visit). Attentional bias was conceptualized as the percentage of time fixated on food cues when both food and neutral (non-food) cues were presented during a food-specific dot-probe task. Inhibitory control, specifically motor impulsivity, was assessed as percentage of inhibitory failures during a food-specific Go/NoGo task. ResultsA significant condition by time effect was observed for attentional bias towards food cues, independent of hunger, whereas attentional bias towards food cues was increased pre-post exercise but not after watching TV. Inhibitory control was not affected by exercise or related to attentional bias for food cues. ConclusionsAn acute bout of exercise increased attentional bias for food cues, pointing to a mechanism that may contribute to the weight loss resistance observed with exercise. Future trials are needed to evaluate attentional bias towards food cues over a longitudinal exercise intervention.

Dynamic changes in the food-cue processing of obese adolescents: A controlled eye-tracking study from a dual-system perspective

Adolescent obesity is a growing global health problem. Studies have demonstrated that exposure to food cues plays a role in both the development and the persistence of obesity. Understanding how visual attention changes dynamically in response to food cues may explain how they contribute to obesity. The primary aims were to evaluate attentional bias for food cues and conduct a time-course analysis of obese adolescents' food-cue processing. We also investigated the roles of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and eating styles in their visual attention to food stimuli. A total of 60 age- and gender-matched 12-16-year-olds (n = 30, obese group; n = 30, control group; M = 13.9 years, SD = 1.26) were included in this study's sample. The participants viewed a series of high-calorie and low-calorie food images along with nonfood images in the free exploration paradigm during eye-tracking. Time-course analysis of the proportion of fixations on images of food and high-calorie foods determined that the attentional processing of the two groups differed, especially in later stages. The obese group had higher Stroop Interference and Trail Making Test-B scores than the control group, but these executive functions' scores did not affect their proportions of fixations on food and high-calorie food images over time. Higher Perceptual Reasoning Index scores led to a decrease in the proportions of fixations on high-calorie food images over time in the obese group, and this was particularly noticeable after about 4000 ms. This study found that time-course analysis of visual attention to food cues allows us to understand how it changes dynamically over larger time intervals. Future studies should provide knowledge about maintained attention for food cues and their relationship with top-down factors in obese adolescents.

The attentional bias for food cues and its neural mechanism

The attentional bias for food cues and its neural mechanism

0257 Preliminary Findings: Attentional Bias for Food Cues Unrelated to Time Awake or Circadian Phase During Forced Desynchrony in Adolescents

Abstract Introduction Sleep quantity and quality influence attentional bias, and attentional bias for food cues has been associated with body weight. Whether the endogenous circadian cycle and/or time from awakening to bedtime contribute to attentional bias for food and differences in weight remain unclear. Using a 28-h forced desynchrony (FD) design, we hypothesized that adolescents with overweight (OW) and obesity (O) would have more attentional bias for food cues later in the wake episode and at a later circadian phase compared to adolescents with a healthy weight (HW). Methods 50 (28 male) adolescents (12-15yr) completed 7 FD cycles. Participants completed an attentional bias task that included three food word categories (savory, sweet, fruits/vegetables) and one non-food word category (school supplies). The task was completed at 6 fixed times each cycle: Task 1 was 1.3h after scheduled awaking, Task 2 was 2h after Task 1, and Tasks 3–6 followed at 3-h intervals. Weight categorization used body mass index (BMI) percentiles (CDC): HW (>5th and <85th; n=24), OW (85th and <95th; n=13), or O (≥95th; n=14). Endogenous circadian period was determined using salivary melatonin onsets (Mean: HW=23.88h; OW=24.01h; O=23.86h). Effect of circadian phase and time since scheduled awakening was assessed by mixed effects modeling using 6 circadian and 6 time-awake bins. Results We found no significant differences between weight groups in attentional bias for any of the food categories (p’s >.05). We also saw no significant time awake effects or circadian influence on attentional bias, nor did time awake or circadian phase moderate the associations between weight category and attentional bias (p’s >.05). Conclusion Weight groups did not impact food-related attentional bias across the wake episode or circadian phase. Future directions will explore whether attentional bias for food types predicts food choice and food consumption in this study. Support DK101046

Attentional bias for food cues in advertising among overweight and hungry children: An explorative experimental study

People with an increased motivation for rewarding substances show increased automatic selective attention towards cues that are related to that specific substance. The aim of this study was to explore if overweight and hungry children have an attentional bias for food cues in food advertising. A randomized between-subject design was used with 95 children who played an advergame that promoted either energy-dense snacks or non-food products. Overweight children had a higher gaze duration for the food cues compared to normal weight children. No effects were found of overweight on the attentional bias measurements for the non-food cues. Furthermore, hungrier children had a higher gaze duration, a higher number of fixations, and a faster latency of initial fixation on the food cues than less hungry children, while we found the opposite results for the non-food cues. The findings largely confirm our expectations, adding important knowledge about individual susceptibility to food advertisements. Overweight and hungrier children seem to be stronger affected by food advertising than normal weight and less hungry children. This study is the first that examined attentional bias in a food advertisement that is highly comparable to advertisements that are used by food companies, thereby increasing the external validity of the findings. The second strength is that the development of an attentional bias for food cues is developing at a young age and it was examined in a real-life situation.

Top-down guidance of attention to food cues is enhanced in individuals with overweight/obesity and predicts change in weight at one-year follow up

BackgroundChanging eating behaviour may be challenging for individuals with obesity and this may be related to attentional bias towards food. Previous paradigms used to assess attentional bias to food stimuli have not distinguished between bottom-up processes related to assessment of rewarding stimuli versus top-down processes related to effects of mind-set on attention. We investigated whether attentional bias for food cues varies between individuals with overweight/obesity and healthy weight individuals, due to differential top-down control of attention. We also determined whether top-down biases predict food consumption in the lab and weight change in our sample over one-year.MethodsForty-three participants with overweight/obesity and 49 healthy weight participants between the ages of 18 and 58 participated. Participants completed two attention tasks in a counterbalanced order: (i) a priming task assessing bottom-up control of attention and (ii) a working memory task assessing top-down control of attention. Eating behaviour was assessed by a taste test. At one-year follow-up participants returned to the laboratory to assess changes in their body mass index (BMI).ResultsThe healthy weight and overweight/obese groups did not differ in demographics and baseline measures (appetite, food liking, taste test food intake). Participants with overweight/obesity showed greater top-down attentional bias towards food cues than did healthy weight participants but had no difference in bottom-up attentional bias. Top down attentional bias towards food cues predicted weight change over one-year but did not predict food intake in the taste test.ConclusionsThe present findings illustrate that the relationship between attentional bias for food, food intake, and body weight is complex. Top-down effects of mind-set on attention, rather than bottom-up control of attention to food may contribute to patterns of eating that result in development and/or maintenance of overweight/obesity. Interventions targeted at top down biases could be effective in facilitating prevention of weight gain.

Cause or consequence? Investigating attention bias and self-regulation skills in children at risk for obesity

Impaired self-regulation, especially in food-specific situations, has been linked to childhood obesity. These deficits may be acquired during the development of obesity rather than being a prerequisite thereof. The current study, hence, focused on an at-risk population versus controls. Normal-weight children of obese and normal-weight parents were tested regarding attentional flexibility, emotion regulation, and inhibitory control. A sample of 50 preschoolers of obese parents (n=25) or normal-weight parents (n=25) participated in this study. Through eye-tracking, attentional bias for food cues was measured during a visual probe task using food and toy images. Emotion regulation was assessed during a distress-evoking task, and inhibitory control was examined through a delay-of-gratification task. Both tasks are standardized and were conducted in non-food contexts. Results showed no significant group differences in overall attentional bias to food images over toy images. However, children of normal-weight parents showed a preference for toy images. Regarding emotion regulation, children in the risk group expressed significantly less overall emotional distress. In addition, less gaze aversion and bodily sadness could be observed in this group. No differences were found for inhibitory control. Findings suggest that general deficits in self-regulation are not yet present in normal-weight children at risk for obesity. Instead, they might develop as a by-product of unhealthy weight gain. Results indicate, however, that children of obese parents are less emotionally expressive compared with children of normal-weight parents. Furthermore, children of normal-weight parents appeared to be more interested in toy images than in food images.

Attentional bias for food cues in advertising among overweight and hungry children

Attentional bias theory suggests that an increased motivation to receive or avoid a rewarding substance elevates automatic selective attention toward cues that are related to that specific substance. Until now, no study has examined attentional bias toward food cues in food advertisements, even though these are designed to grab the attention of possible consumers and induce craving and eating behavior. This study aims to examine if overweight and hungry children have an attentional bias for food cues when exposed to food advertising. A randomized between-subject design was used with 95 children (age: 7- 10 years) who played an advergame that promoted either energy-dense snacks or nonfood products. While playing, eye-movements to food or nonfood cues were recorded to assess attentional bias. We found that overweight children had a higher gaze duration for the food cues (P < 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.72) compared to normal weight children. We found no effects of overweight for number of fixations and latency of initial fixation for the food cues. No effects were found of overweight on the attentional bias measurements for the nonfood cues. Furthermore, hungrier children had a higher gaze duration (P < 0.05, Cohen’s f2 = 0.18), a higher number of fixations (P < 0.05, Cohen's f2 = 0.19), and a faster latency of initial fixation on the food cues than less hungry children (P < 0.05, Cohen's f2 = 0.15), whilewe found the opposite results for the nonfood cues. Food cues trigger attention to a larger extent among overweight and hungrier children. The findings largely confirm our expectations, adding important knowledge to existing literature about attentional bias theory.

Reward sensitivity predicts ice cream-related attentional bias assessed by inattentional blindness

The cognitive mechanism underlying the association between individual differences in reward sensitivity and food craving is unknown. The present study explored the mechanism by examining the role of reward sensitivity in attentional bias toward ice cream cues. Forty-nine college students who displayed high level of ice cream craving (HICs) and 46 who displayed low level of ice cream craving (LICs) performed an inattentional blindness (IB) task which was used to assess attentional bias for ice cream. In addition, reward sensitivity and coping style were assessed by the Behavior Inhibition System/Behavior Activation System Scales and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Results showed significant higher identification rate of the critical stimulus in the HICs than LICs, suggesting greater attentional bias for ice cream in the HICs. It was indicated that attentional bias for food cues persisted even under inattentional condition. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the attentional bias and reward sensitivity after controlling for coping style, and reward sensitivity predicted attentional bias for food cues. The mediation analyses showed that attentional bias mediated the relationship between reward sensitivity and food craving. Those findings suggest that the association between individual differences in reward sensitivity and food craving may be attributed to attentional bias for food-related cues.

Attentional bias for food cues in binge eating disorder

The aim of the present study was to investigate an attentional bias toward food stimuli in binge eating disorder (BED). To this end, a BED and a weight-matched control group (CG) completed a clarification task and a spatial cueing paradigm. The clarification task revealed that food stimuli were faster detected than neutral stimuli, and that this difference was more pronounced in BED than in the CG. The spatial cueing paradigm indicated a stimulus engagement effect in the BED group but not in the CG, suggesting that an early locus in stimulus processing contributes to differences between BED patients and obese controls. Both groups experienced difficulty disengaging attention from food stimuli, and this effect was only descriptively larger in the BED group. The effects obtained in both paradigms were found to be correlated with reported severity of BED symptoms. Of note, this relationship was partially mediated by the arousal associated with food stimuli relative to neutral stimuli, as predicted by an account on incentive sensitization.

Attention bias for food is independent of restraint in healthy weight individuals—An eye tracking study

ObjectiveRestrained eating style and weight status are highly correlated. Though both have been associated with an attentional bias for food cues, in prior research restraint and BMI were often confounded. The aim of the present study was to determine the existence and nature of an attention bias for food cues in healthy-weight female restrained and unrestrained eaters, when matching the two groups on BMI. MethodAttention biases for food cues were measured by recordings of eye movements during a visual probe task with pictorial food versus non-food stimuli. Healthy weight high restrained (n=24) and low restrained eaters (n=21) were matched on BMI in an attempt to unconfound the effects of restraint and weight on attention allocation patterns. ResultsAll participants showed elevated attention biases for food stimuli in comparison to neutral stimuli, independent of restraint status. DiscussionThese findings suggest that attention biases for food-related cues are common for healthy weight women and show that restrained eating (per se) is not related to biased processing of food stimuli, at least not in healthy weight participants.

Temporal attention for visual food stimuli in restrained eaters

Although restrained eaters try to limit their food intake, they often fail and indulge in exactly those foods that they want to avoid. A possible explanation is a temporal attentional bias for food cues. It could be that for these people food stimuli are processed relatively efficiently and require less attentional resources to enter awareness. Once a food stimulus has captured attention, it may be preferentially processed and granted prioritized access to limited cognitive resources. This might help explain why restrained eaters often fail in their attempts to restrict their food intake. A Rapid Serial Visual Presentation task consisting of dual and single target trials with food and neutral pictures as targets and/or distractors was administered to restrained (n=40) and unrestrained (n=40) eaters to study temporal attentional bias. Results indicated that (1) food cues did not diminish the attentional blink in restrained eaters when presented as second target; (2) specifically restrained eaters showed an interference effect of identifying food targets on the identification of preceding neutral targets; (3) for both restrained and unrestrained eaters, food cues enhanced the attentional blink; (4) specifically in restrained eaters, food distractors elicited an attention blink in the single target trials. In restrained eaters, food cues get prioritized access to limited cognitive resources, even if this processing priority interferes with their current goals. This temporal attentional bias for food stimuli might help explain why restrained eaters typically have difficulties maintaining their diet rules.

Effects of mu opioid receptor antagonism on cognition in obese binge-eating individuals

Translational research implicates the mu opioid neurochemical system in hedonic processing, but its role in dissociable high-level cognitive functions is not well understood. Binge-eating represents a useful model of 'behavioural addiction' for exploring this issue. The aim of this study was to objectively assess the cognitive effects of a mu opioid receptor antagonist in obese individuals with binge-eating symptoms. Adults with moderate to severe binge-eating and body mass index ≥30 kg/m² received 4 weeks of treatment with a mu opioid receptor antagonist (GSK1521498) 2 or 5 mg per day, or placebo, in a double-blind randomised parallel design. Neuropsychological assessment was undertaken at baseline and endpoint to quantify processing bias for food stimuli (visual dot probe with 500- and 2,000-ms stimulus presentations and food Stroop tasks) and other distinct cognitive functions (N-back working memory, sustained attention, and power of attention tasks). GSK1521498 5 mg/day significantly reduced attentional bias for food cues on the visual dot probe task versus placebo (p = 0.042), with no effects detected on other cognitive tasks (all p > 0.10). The effect on attentional bias was limited to the longer stimulus duration condition in the higher dose cohort alone. These findings support a central role for mu opioid receptors in aspects of attentional processing of food cues but militate against the notion of major modulatory influences of mu opioid receptors in working memory and sustained attention. The findings have implications for novel therapeutic directions and suggest that the role of different opioid receptors in cognition merits further research.

Does attentional bias for food cues drive overeating?

Does attentional bias for food cues drive overeating?

Manipulating attentional bias to food cues: Can attentional retraining influence ad lib intake and hunger?

Manipulating attentional bias to food cues: Can attentional retraining influence ad lib intake and hunger?

Processing of pictorial food stimuli in patients with eating disorders—A systematic review

The processing of food cues in eating-disordered patients has recently been increasingly investigated. Outlined is current evidence from pictorial food stimuli studies. PubMed and PsychINFO were searched for quantitative pictorial food stimuli studies investigating healthy controls and expert-diagnosed eating-disordered patients. Patients with eating disorders (ED) demonstrated cue reactivity to food stimuli. Results from functional imaging suggest sensory disengagement and higher emotional involvement while self-reported data and facial EMG revealed that food pictures were perceived as less pleasurable. Different experimental paradigms have demonstrated an attentional bias for food cues in ED. Currently, psychophysiological data is widely inconclusive. Evidence suggests cue reactivity to food pictures in eating-disordered patients. However, the overall picture is inconclusive because methodological problems and the integration of findings from different experimental approaches pose a challenge to the research field.

External eating, impulsivity and attentional bias to food cues

Cognitive and behavioural responses to food reward, such as attentional biases and overeating, have been associated with individual differences in reward-responsiveness and impulsivity. This study investigated relationships between external eating, impulsivity and attentional bias to food cues, assessed using the pictorial visual-probe task. As previously reported, attentional bias correlated positively with external eating. Additional novel findings were: (i) attentional bias for food cues was positively related to trait impulsivity, (ii) attentional bias remained related to attention impulsivity after controlling for external eating. Our findings highlight the relationship between the ability to control impulsive responding and selective attention to food cues.