Food-related attentional bias and its associations with appetitive motivation and body weight: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Hardman, Charlotte A ORCID: 0000-0002-0744-6019, Jones, Andrew, Burton, Sam ORCID: 0000-0003-3823-3275, Duckworth, Jay J ORCID: 0000-0002-9475-5839, McGale, Lauren S, Mead, Bethan R ORCID: 0000-0002-9294-517X, Roberts, Carl A ORCID: 0000-0003-4275-601X, Field, Matt and Werthmann, Jessica (2021) Food-related attentional bias and its associations with appetitive motivation and body weight: A systematic review and meta-analysis. APPETITE, 157. 104986-.

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Abstract

Theoretical models suggest that food-related visual attentional bias (AB) may be related to appetitive motivational states and individual differences in body weight; however, findings in this area are equivocal. We conducted a systematic review and series of meta-analyses to determine if there is a positive association between food-related AB and: (1.) body mass index (BMI) (number of effect sizes (k) = 110), (2.) hunger (k = 98), (3.) subjective craving for food (k = 35), and (4.) food intake (k = 44). Food-related AB was robustly associated with craving (r = 0.134 (95% CI 0.061, 0.208); p < .001), food intake (r = 0.085 (95% CI 0.038, 0.132); p < .001), and hunger (r = 0.048 (95% CI 0.016, 0.079); p = .003), but these correlations were small. Food-related AB was unrelated to BMI (r = 0.008 (95% CI -0.020, 0.035); p = .583) and this result was not moderated by type of food stimuli, method of AB assessment, or the subcomponent of AB that was examined. Furthermore, in a between-groups analysis (k = 22) which directly compared participants with overweight/obesity to healthy-weight control groups, there was no evidence for an effect of weight status on food-related AB (Hedge's g = 0.104, (95% CI -0.050, 0.258); p = .186). Taken together, these findings suggest that food-related AB is sensitive to changes in the motivational value of food, but is unrelated to individual differences in body weight. Our findings question the traditional view of AB as a trait-like index of preoccupation with food and have implications for novel theoretical perspectives on the role of food AB in appetite control and obesity.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Attentional bias, Appetite, Eating, Body weight, Craving, Hunger, Motivation, Incentive value, Executive function
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2020 10:13
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:30
DOI:	10.1016/j.appet.2020.104986
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3103311

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• Food-related attentional bias and its associations with appetitive motivation and body weight: A systematic review and meta-analysis. (deposited 02 Oct 2020 07:55)
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