The influence of negative urgency, attentional bias, and emotional dimensions on palatable food consumption

In this 2016 study, 190 undergraduate women were randomly assigned to either an anger or neutral mood condition, before completing the Food Stroop task (assesses attentional bias), and then given the chance to eat mandarin oranges and/or chocolate candy while the experimenter was not present in the room. The plan was to examine the effect of attentional bias and negative affect on food consumption. The results showed that women high in negative urgency (NU) who experienced emotional arousal were more likely to consume candy and more candy than any other woman participant. Attentional bias was not related to food intake, and was unaffected by emotional arousal or emotional valence (interest/attractiveness). The influence that negative mood has on consumption of palatable foods appears to involve emotional arousal rather than emotional valence, and may be primarily seen in women high in negative urgency. [NPID: mood, attention, attentional bias, affect, negative affect, negative urgency, emotional arousal]

Year: 2016

Reference: Becker, K. D., Fischer, S., Smith, G. T., & Miller, J. D. (2016). The influence of negative urgency, attentional bias, and emotional dimensions on palatable food consumption. Appetite, 100, 236–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.02.019