Restrained eaters preserve top-down attentional control in the presence of food.

Sarah Hotham, Dinkar Sharma, Kate Hamilton-West

Journal: Appetite 2012;58(3):1160-3

PMID: 22429881

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

This study investigated the attentional control of restrained eaters when exposed to food. Restrained (N=55) and unrestrained eaters (N=56) completed a color word Stroop task. Top-down attentional control was assessed by adaptation effects (the Stroop effect is smaller when the previous trial is an incongruent color word than a congruent color word). Adaptation effects differed between restrained and unrestrained eaters according to the type of background image presented (high-fat food vs. non-food). Specifically, in restrained eaters adaptation effects did not differ as a function of image. In contrast, adaptation effects in unrestrained eaters were not observed with high-fat food. Motivation to either approach or avoid food may explain these differences.

Address: School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NP, United Kingdom. [email protected]

DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2012.03.011

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MeSH Terms: Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Avoidance Learning, Cues, Diet, Dietary Fats, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Motivation, Social Control, Informal, Stroop Test, Visual Perception, Young Adult