Efficacy of the attention control training program on reducing attentional bias in obese and overweight dieters

Abstract

Evidence indicates that attentional bias and dieter's eating styles (i.e., external, emotional, restraint) play important roles in the success or failure of dieters. First, we studied food-related attentional bias (FAB; based on interference scores on a modified Stroop test), eating styles (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire), and increases in body mass index (BMI) in overweight or obese dieters (n = 34) and nondieters (n = 35). Compared with nondieters, dieters showed higher FAB, which was positively associated with BMI. In addition, the majority of overweight and obese participants had higher scores on emotional and restrained eating styles. Second, we investigated the effect of a Food Attention Control Training Program (Food-ACTP) on reducing FAB and dieting success. Dieters (n = 49) were divided into three groups: intervention (training), no-intervention (control), and sham-intervention, all of whom were measured at pretest, posttest, and follow up. Only the intervention group showed reductions in their FAB, diet failure rate, and BMI at follow up. For the intervention group, there was a significant interaction between changes in FAB and eating styles in predicting decreases in BMI. Overall, this work shows that attentional bias plays an important role in eating behavior, and dieters can benefit from practicing with Food-ACTP as a complimentary intervention. The exact mechanism through which Food-ACTP improves dieting success awaits further investigation.

Cognitive and neuromodulation strategies for unhealthy eating and obesity: Systematic review and discussion of neurocognitive mechanisms

“…Interestingly, they found a paradoxical effecttraining bias towards unhealthy food induced higher proportion of low fat options, probably due to demand characteristics. Two other studies examined the effectiveness of a single session of active AtBM training compared to Standard Control conditions for reducing unhealthy eating behaviors, BMI and diet failure rate in university students with excess weight (Bazzaz et al, 2017;Hardman et al, 2013). Specifically, Hardman and colleagues found modest effects of active AtBM training on attentional bias to food images, and no effects on subjective levels of hunger and food intake, as measured by an analogue scale and a food preference test, respectively (Hardman et al, 2013).…”

“…Specifically, Hardman and colleagues found modest effects of active AtBM training on attentional bias to food images, and no effects on subjective levels of hunger and food intake, as measured by an analogue scale and a food preference test, respectively (Hardman et al, 2013). Bazzaz and colleagues (2017) found that the Active Training reduced BMI and diet failure rate, i.e., number of participants who quitted their diet from pretest to posttest and to the follow-up test (Bazzaz et al, 2017). Moderation analyses showed that high levels of restraint moderated the positive effect of the Active Training on BMI loss, particularly in those dieters with high levels of restraint.…”

“…Three cognitive trainings have shown to significantly reduce BMI in people with overweight and obesity: Response Inhibition (Lawrence et al, 2015a;Veling et al, 2014), Implementation of Intentions (Benyamini et al, 2013) and Attentional Bias Modification (Bazzaz et al, 2017). In all cases, beneficial effects have been found using multiple training sessions (between 4 and 10).…”

The critical role of cognitive-based trait differences in transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) suppression of food craving and eating in frank obesity

“…Greater attention to food also occurs in overweight and obese individuals that are dieting vs. not dieting (Bazzaz, Fadardi, & Parkinson, 2017). This may explain why tDCS was not as effective at reducing food consumption in those with higher intent to restrict as measured by the DEBQ-R, but significantly reduced eating in those with lower intent to restrict scores.…”

Study protocol of a randomised controlled feasibility study of food related computerised attention training versus mindfulness-training and waiting list control for adults with overweight or obesity

“…Research suggests that people with obesity and/or with BED tend to have AB towards food cues together with a difficulty in disengaging from these cues (as measured with eye tracking techniques) (11). Importantly, gaze maintenance on food cues has been shown to contribute to food cravings and to subsequent food consumption (10,16) and AB has been positively associated with body mass index (BMI) (17). Due to the potential role of AB in eating behaviour, treatment approaches aimed at modifying these biases, have been developed (18,19).…”