title: Cognitive interference due to food cues in childhood obesity.
abstract: Investigated specific information-processing biases for food-relevant stimuli in 34 children, Mage = 13 years, SD = 2 years, M = 177% of ideal weight, SD = 24%, who were completing a residential cognitive-behavioral treatment program for severe obesity and 40 matched control children who were not obese, Mage = 13 years, SD = 2 years, M = 103% of ideal weight, SD = 13%. Participants completed a computerized modified Stroop task, which included food words, negative-emotion words, and control words. Results indicated that children in the obesity group displayed a specific interference effect for food words. It is hypothesized that the observed bias in information processing reflects hypersensitivity for food cues, which can initiate or maintain dysfunctional eating behavior.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. Caroline.Braet@rug.ac.be
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Braet
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crombez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*