title: A sad mood increases attention to unhealthy food images in women with food addiction.
abstract: Food addiction and emotional eating both influence eating and weight, but little is known of how negative mood affects the attentional processes that may contribute to food addiction. The purpose of this study was to compare attention to food images in adult women (N = 66) with versus without food addiction, before and after a sad mood induction (MI). Participants' eye fixations were tracked and recorded throughout 8-s presentations of displays with healthy food, unhealthy food, and non-food images. Food addiction was self-reported using the Yale Food Addiction Scale. The sad MI involved watching an 8-min video about a young child who passed away from cancer. It was predicted that: (1) participants in the food addiction group would attend to unhealthy food significantly more than participants in the control group, and (2) participants in the food addiction group would increase their attention to unhealthy food images following the sad MI, due to increased emotional reactivity and poorer emotional regulation. As predicted, the sad MI had a different effect for those with versus without food addiction: for participants with food addiction, attention to unhealthy images increased following the sad MI and attention to healthy images decreased, whereas for participants without food addiction the sad MI did not alter attention to food. These findings contribute to researchers' understanding of the cognitive factors underlying food addiction.
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Canada. Electronic address: mallory.frayn@mail.mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Mallory
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frayn
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Canada. Electronic address: sears@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Sears
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Canada. Electronic address: kvonrans@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: von Ranson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001069:Appetite Regulation; D000070379:Attentional Bias; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002170:Canada; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000066498:Emotional Adjustment; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000209:etiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates
keywords: Attention; Attentional bias; Eye gaze tracking; Food addiction; Mood induction