Hardman, Charlotte, Jones, Andrew, Burton, Sam 
ORCID: 0000-0003-3823-3275, Duckworth, Jay ORCID: 0000-0002-9475-5839, McGale, Lauren ORCID: 0000-0002-7898-9846, Mead, Bethan ORCID: 0000-0002-9294-517X, Roberts, Carl ORCID: 0000-0003-4275-601X, Field, Matt and Werthmann, Jessica ORCID: 0000-0002-2312-1249
(2020)
Food-related attentional bias and its associations with appetitive motivation and body weight: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
<p>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 = .134 (95% CI .061, .208); p < .001), food intake (r = .085 (95% CI .038, .132); p < .001), and hunger (r = .048 (95% CI .016, .079); p = .003), but these correlations were small. Food-related AB was unrelated to BMI (r =.008 (95% CI -.020, .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.</p>
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 5202 Biological Psychology, 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 3210 Nutrition and Dietetics, 52 Psychology, Obesity, Nutrition, Behavioral and Social Science, Childhood Obesity, Clinical Research, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Pediatric Research Initiative, Stroke, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Metabolic and endocrine, Oral and gastrointestinal, 2 Zero Hunger |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health & Life Sciences Faculty of Health & Life Sciences > Inst. Population Health |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Sep 2022 09:02 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2026 19:34 |
| DOI: | 10.31234/osf.io/ng34q |
| Open Access URL: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33039507/ |
| Related Websites: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164932 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
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