Future researchers should aim to conduct sleep interventions among different athlete populations, compare results, and further establish guidelines and intervention tools for athletes to address their specific sleep demands and disturbances.

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Please cite this as: Kakoschke, N., Kemps, E., and Tiggemann, M., 2015. Combined effects of cognitive bias for food cues and poor inhibitory control on unhealthy food intake. Appetite, 87, We are grateful to Paul Douglas for developing the software for the computerised administration of the dot probe task, the approach-avoidance task, and the go/no-go task.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Naomi Kakoschke, School of Psychology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.Electronic mail may be sent to Naomi.Kakoschke@flinders.edu.au COGNITIVE BIAS, POOR INHIBITORY CONTROL AND FOOD INTAKE 2 AbstractThe present study aimed to investigate the combined effects of cognitive bias (attentional and approach biases) and inhibitory control on unhealthy snack food intake. Cognitive biases reflect automatic processing, while inhibitory control is an important component of controlled processing. Participants were 146 undergraduate women who completed a dot probe task to assess attentional bias and an approach-avoidance task to asses approach bias. Inhibitory control was measured with a food-specific go/no-go task. Unhealthy snack food intake was measured using a so-called "taste test". There was a significant interaction between approach bias and inhibitory control on unhealthy snack food intake. Specifically, participants who showed a strong approach bias combined with low inhibitory control consumed the most snack food. Theoretically, the results support contemporary dual-process models which propose that behaviour is guided by both automatic and controlled processing systems. At a practical level, the results offer potential scope for an intervention that combines re-training of both automatic and controlled processing. COGNITIVE BIAS, POOR INHIBITORY CONTROL AND FOOD INTAKE 3 Combined Effects of Cognitive Bias for Food Cues and Poor Inhibitory Control on Unhealthy Food IntakeDuring the last three decades, the global prevalence of overweight and obesity has doubled, with 35% of adults classified as overweight and 11% as obese (WHO, 2013). One important contributor to chronic health problems such as overweight and obesity is unhealthy eating (NHMRC, 2003). The contemporary Western diet is characterised by unhealthy eating, in particular consuming too much fat, salt and sugar. Given the potential negative health consequences of unhealthy eating, it is important to investigate the cognitive mechanisms that underlie such behaviour. Specifically, recent theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence suggest that automatic and controlled cognitive processing make important contributions to unhealthy behaviour.Dual-process models (e.g., Strack & Deutsch, 2004) propose that our behaviour is determined by two different information processing systems, i.e., automatic and controlled processing. Automatic processing is fast, implicit and effortless, and includes affective (i.e., attitudes, preferences) and motivational (i.e., attending to, approaching) responses to relevant stimuli, s...

The continual exposure to unhealthy food cues in the environment encourages poor dietary habits, in particular consuming too much fat and sugar, and not enough fruit and vegetables.According to Berridge's (1996) model of food reward, unhealthy eating is a behavioural response to biased attentional processing. The present study used an established attentional bias modification paradigm to discourage the consumption of unhealthy food and instead promote healthy eating. Participants were 146 undergraduate women who were randomly assigned to two groups: one was trained to direct their attention toward pictures of healthy food ('attend healthy' group) and the other toward unhealthy food ('attend unhealthy' group).It was found that participants trained to attend to healthy food cues demonstrated an increased attentional bias for such cues and ate relatively more of the healthy than unhealthy snacks compared to the 'attend unhealthy' group. Theoretically, the results support the postulated link between biased attentional processing and consumption (Berridge, 2009). At a practical level, they offer potential scope for interventions that focus on eating well.

Please cite this as: Kakoschke, N., Kemps, E., and Tiggemann, M., 2015. External eating mediates the relationship between impulsivity and unhealthy food intake. Physiology & Behavior, 147, Recent evidence from the eating domain shows a link between impulsivity and unhealthy food intake. However, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. One possibility is an external eating style, which has been linked to both impulsivity and food intake. The current study investigated the potential mediating role of external eating in the relationship between impulsivity and food intake. Participants were 146 undergraduate women who completed measures of impulsivity and external eating, and took part in a laboratory taste test as a behavioural index of unhealthy snack food intake. It was found that attentional and motor impulsivity interacted in predicting food intake, but only motor impulsivity predicted both external eating and food intake. Furthermore, the relationship between motor impulsivity and food intake was mediated by external eating. These findings support the development of interventions aimed at targeting specific aspects of impulsivity in order to reduce unhealthy eating behaviour.

Obesity is partly driven by unhealthy food choices underpinned by cognitive biases, including approach bias (a tendency to move towards food cues) and delay discounting (a preference for immediate rewards). Cognitive training strategies aimed at modifying these biases, namely, approach-avoidance training (AAT) and episodic future thinking (EFT), may improve food choice. This pilot randomised trial examined the effect of these two trainings, delivered daily for 1 week via smartphone apps, on approach bias for healthy/unhealthy foods, delay discounting for money/food, and hypothetical food choice. Sixty overweight/obese participants (18-45 years) were randomly allocated to AAT, EFT, or control. Outcomes were measured at pretraining, posttraining, and 6-week follow-up. AAT reduced approach bias for unhealthy food and increased healthy food choice. However, EFT did not affect delay discounting or food choice. We conclude that AAT is useful for improving food choice in obesity and that smartphones are a feasible, engaging way to deliver training.

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