title: Approach bias and cue reactivity towards food in people with high versus low levels of food craving.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Even though people suffering from high levels of food craving are aware of the negative consequences of binge eating, they cannot resist. Automatic action tendencies (i.e. approach bias) towards food cues that operate outside conscious control may contribute to this dysfunctional behavior. The present study aimed to examine whether people with high levels of food craving show a stronger approach bias for food than those with low levels of food craving and whether this bias is associated with cue-elicited food craving.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-one individuals reporting either extremely high or extremely low levels of trait food craving were recruited via an online screening and compared regarding approach bias towards visual food cues by means of an implicit stimulus-response paradigm (i.e. the Food Approach-Avoidance Task). State levels of food craving were assessed before and after cue exposure to indicate food cue reactivity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As expected, high food cravers showed stronger automatic approach tendencies towards food than low food cravers. Also in line with the hypotheses, approach bias for food was positively correlated with the magnitude of change in state levels of food craving from pre-to post-cue exposure in the total sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that an approach bias in early stages of information processing contributes to the inability to resist food intake and may be of relevance for understanding and treating dysfunctional eating behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: timo.brockmeyer@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brockmeyer
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69126 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, De Crespigny Park, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69126 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; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology; D015982:Bias; D002032:Bulimia / Q000209:etiology; D003071:Cognition; D066249:Craving; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000209:etiology; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010641:Phenotype; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Approach bias; Automatic action tendencies; Cognitive bias; Eating disorders; Food craving; Food cue reactivity