Our current environment is characterized by the omnipresence of food cues. The sight and smell of real foods, but also graphically depictions of appetizing foods, can guide our eating behavior, for example, by eliciting food craving and influencing food choice. The relevance of visual food cues on human information processing has been demonstrated by a growing body of studies employing food images across the disciplines of psychology, medicine, and neuroscience. However, currently used food image sets vary considerably across laboratories and image characteristics (contrast, brightness, etc.) and food composition (calories, macronutrients, etc.) are often unspecified. These factors might have contributed to some of the inconsistencies of this research. To remedy this, we developed food-pics, a picture database comprising 568 food images and 315 non-food images along with detailed meta-data. A total of N = 1988 individuals with large variance in age and weight from German speaking countries and North America provided normative ratings of valence, arousal, palatability, desire to eat, recognizability and visual complexity. Furthermore, data on macronutrients (g), energy density (kcal), and physical image characteristics (color composition, contrast, brightness, size, complexity) are provided. The food-pics image database is freely available under the creative commons license with the hope that the set will facilitate standardization and comparability across studies and advance experimental research on the determinants of eating behavior.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting public restrictions pose a psychological burden for humans worldwide and may be particularly detrimental for individuals with mental disorders. Therefore, the current study explored effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on eating disorder (ED) symptoms and other psychological aspects in former inpatients with anorexia nervosa (AN). Method: One-hundred and fifty-nine patients with AN-discharged from inpatient treatment in 2019-completed an online survey on contact history with COVID-19, changes in ED symptoms and other psychological aspects, health care utilization, and strategies patients employed to cope during the pandemic. Results: Approximately 70% of patients reported that eating, shape and weight concerns, drive for physical activity, loneliness, sadness, and inner restlessness increased during the pandemic. Access to in-person psychotherapies and visits at the general practitioner (including weight checks) decreased by 37% and 46%, respectively. Videoconference therapy was used by 26% and telephone contacts by 35% of patients. Patients experienced daily routines, day planning and enjoyable activities as the most helpful among the most used coping strategies. Discussion: The COVID-19 pandemic poses great challenges to patients with AN. ED-related thoughts and behaviors may be used as dysfunctional coping mechanisms to regain control over the current circumstances. E-mental health interventions appear to be promising for supporting AN patients during these hard times. Furthermore, interventions addressing symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as intolerance of uncertainty might help them manage their ED symptoms.

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Some forms of overeating show both behavioral and neurobiological similarities to substance use disorders. Accordingly, a possible addiction to food has been discussed for decades, and the debate has received increased scientific and public attention since the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 2009, the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) was developed in an attempt to provide a standardized self-report instrument for the assessment of food addiction based on the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence. Since then, the YFAS has been used in numerous studies and celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. This article presents an overview of the YFAS and its adaptations, which includes a detailed description of scoring instructions and a supplementary SPSS syntax. Furthermore, psychometric properties and correlates of the YFAS, as well as prevalence rates of food addiction diagnoses and symptoms in different populations, are reviewed. Finally, shortcomings of the scale and future directions for food addiction research and revisions of the YFAS are discussed.

The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) measures addiction-like eating of palatable foods based on the seven diagnostic criteria for substance dependence in the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Most recently, a new version of the YFAS has been developed based on the revised eleven diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder in DSM-5. This YFAS 2.0 was translated into German and used among other measures in a study with 455 university students (89% female) and in a study with 138 obese patients presenting for bariatric surgery (78% female). In the student sample, the one-factorial structure of the English version could be replicated and internal consistency was α = 0.90. The diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 10% of the sample. 'Food addiction' diagnoses were associated with higher body mass, binge eating frequency, trait food craving, and attentional impulsivity as well as with lower perceived self-regulatory success in dieting. In the obese sample, the diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 47% of participants. Again, 'food addiction' symptomatology was associated with higher binge eating frequency and attentional impulsivity. However, those with a 'food addiction' diagnosis did not differ from those without a diagnosis in body mass. To conclude, psychometric properties of the English YFAS 2.0 were replicated for the German YFAS 2.0. Prevalence rates and correlates of 'food addiction' as measured with the YFAS 2.0 were similar to those found with the previous version of the YFAS. Thus, the German YFAS 2.0 appears to be a reliable measure that can be used for the investigation of addiction-like eating behavior, analogous to the original version of the YFAS and the English YFAS 2.0.

One of the most often used instruments for the assessment of food cravings is the Food Cravings Questionnaire (FCQ), which consists of a trait (FCQ-T; 39 items) and state (FCQ-S; 15 items) version. Scores on the FCQ-T have been found to be positively associated with eating pathology, body mass index (BMI), low dieting success and increases in state food craving during cognitive tasks involving appealing food stimuli. The current studies evaluated reliability and validity of a reduced version of the FCQ-T consisting of 15 items only (FCQ-T-r). Study 1 was a questionnaire study conducted online among students (N = 323). In study 2, female students (N = 70) performed a working memory task involving food and neutral pictures. Study 1 indicated a one-factorial structure and high internal consistency (α = 0.94) of the FCQ-T-r. Scores of the FCQ-T-r were positively correlated with BMI and negatively correlated with dieting success. In study 2, participants reported higher state food craving after the task compared to before. This increase was positively correlated with the FCQ-T-r. Hours since the last meal positively predicted food craving before the task when controlling for FCQ-T-r scores and the interaction of both variables. Contrarily, FCQ-T-r scores positively predicted food craving after the task when controlling for food deprivation and the interaction term. Thus, trait food craving was specifically associated with state food craving triggered by palatable food-cues, but not with state food craving related to plain hunger. Results indicate high reliability of the FCQ-T-r. Replicating studies that used the long version, small-to-medium correlations with BMI and dieting success could be found. Finally, scores on the FCQ-T-r predicted cue-elicited food craving, providing further support of its validity. The FCQ-T-r constitutes a succinct, valid and reliable self-report measure to efficiently assess experiences of food craving as a trait.

The idea that specific kind of foods may have an addiction potential and that some forms of overeating may represent an addicted behavior has been discussed for decades. In recent years, the interest in food addiction is growing and research on this topic lead to more precise definitions and assessment methods. For example, the Yale Food Addiction Scale has been developed for the measurement of addiction-like eating behavior based on the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence of the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). In 2013, diagnostic criteria for substance abuse and—dependence were merged, thereby increasing the number of symptoms for substance use disorders (SUDs) in the DSM-5. Moreover, gambling disorder is now included along SUDs as a behavioral addiction. Although a plethora of review articles exist that discuss the applicability of the DSM-IV substance dependence criteria to eating behavior, the transferability of the newly added criteria to eating is unknown. Thus, the current article discusses if and how these new criteria may be translated to overeating. Furthermore, it is examined if the new SUD criteria will impact future research on food addiction, for example, if “diagnosing” food addiction should also be adapted by considering all of the new symptoms. Given the critical response to the revisions in DSM-5, we also discuss if the recent approach of Research Domain Criteria can be helpful in evaluating the concept of food addiction.

Zusammenfassung. Impulsivität ist ein Persönlichkeitsmerkmal, das mit schnellen, unüberlegten Handlungen ohne Beachtung möglicher negativer Konsequenzen einhergeht. Eines der am weitesten verbreiteten Verfahren zur Erfassung von Impulsivität ist die Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford & Barratt, 1995 ). Es wurde gezeigt, dass die drei Faktoren nicht-planende, motorische und aufmerksamkeitsbasierte Impulsivität auch ausreichend gut mit einer verkürzten Form der BIS-11 erfasst werden können (BIS-15; Spinella, 2007 ). Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt diese Kurzversion der BIS-11 in einer deutschen Übersetzung vor. Reliabilität und Faktorstruktur des Fragebogens wurden in einer Stichprobe (N = 752) von überwiegend Studierenden getestet. Die dreifaktorielle Struktur von Spinella (2007) konnte bestätigt werden. Die interne Konsistenz war gut (Cronbachs α = .81). In einer zweiten Studie (N = 51) zeigte sich konvergente Validität durch Zusammenhänge mit einem anderen Impulsivitätsmaß (UPPS). Die BIS-15 empfiehlt sich durch ihre guten psychometrischen Kennwerte und ihre ökonomische Durchführbarkeit für die Erfassung von Impulsivität im deutschen Sprachraum.