Task dependence in color-naming latency among dieters.
OBJECTIVE
This study was concerned with the robustness of responses to food- and to body-related words within a modified Stroop procedure.


METHODS
A within-subjects repeated measures design with 30 female dieters was used in order to examine task dependence in slowed color naming, with comparisons involving different dependent measures and the subjects' responses to the same stimuli using a simple computerized task.


RESULTS
The color naming of food words was retarded when compared to neutral words, and more food words than neutral words were seen to appear first in the simple computerized decision task using the same lists of words. In contrast, the time taken to color name body and neutral words did not differ.


CONCLUSIONS
Taken together, these results emphasize that these effects are not confined to patients with an eating disorder, and may simply reflect current community concern with healthy eating (and dieting). It is premature to advocate the Stroop procedure as an index of psychopathology, since it requires some evidence for the specificity of responses among patients with an eating disorder, and more importantly, a consensus about what might be involved in producing such effects.
Huon
G F
GF
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
Brown
L B
LB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001828:Body Image; D003118:Color Perception; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics