title: Approach Bias Modification in Food Craving-A Proof-of-Concept Study.
abstract: The aim of the present proof-of-concept study was to test a novel cognitive bias modification (CBM) programme in an analogue sample of people with subclinical bulimic eating disorder (ED) psychopathology. Thirty participants with high levels of trait food craving were trained to make avoidance movements in response to visual food stimuli in an implicit learning paradigm. The intervention comprised ten 15-minute sessions over a 5-week course. At baseline, participants showed approach and attentional biases towards high-caloric palatable food that were both significantly reduced and turned into avoidance biases after the training. Participants also reported pronounced reductions in both trait and cue-elicited food craving and in ED symptoms as well. The overall evaluation of the training by the participants was positive. The specific CBM programme tested in this pilot trial promises to be an effective and feasible way to alter automatic action tendencies towards food in people suffering from bulimic ED psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brockmeyer
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reetz
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Section of Eating Disorders, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.|Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LVR Klinik, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Friederich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D015982:Bias; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D066249:Craving; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: approach bias; attentional bias; bulimic eating disorders; cognitive bias modification; food craving