Subliminal activation of abandonment- and eating-related schemata: relationship with eating disordered attitudes in a nonclinical population.
OBJECTIVE
Previous research has demonstrated that subliminal abandonment cues can facilitate eating behavior. It is believed that such eating is a response to the activation of specific core schemata. However, the precise nature of those schemata has not been established. This study examined whether the presentation of subliminal abandonment and food/shape cues results in the activation of abandonment-related or food-related schemata.


METHODS
Eighty-two women were exposed to one of three subliminal cues- an abandonment cue ("lonely"), an appetitive cue ("hungry"), and a neutral cue ("gallery"). They subsequently completed Stroop tasks to measure activation of relevant schemata.


RESULTS
Subliminal presentation of abandonment cues led to the activation of food- and shape-related schemata. In contrast, subliminal appetitive cues resulted in an activation of abandonment-related schemata.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show preliminary support for a multilevel cognitive model, involving indirect links between subliminal cue type and the activation of eating-related cognitions.
Meyer
C
C
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Waller
G
G
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003118:Color Perception; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D011897:Random Allocation; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D013359:Sublimation, Psychological; D014825:Vocabulary