Work

Dissecting implicit food-related behaviors in Binge Eating Disorder and obesity: insights from a mobile approach-avoidance framework

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Bulimic episodes experienced by patients with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) might be sustained by an enhanced behavioral propensity to approach food stimuli. Methods: To test this hypothesis, automatic approach avoidance tendencies toward high-calorie foods (HCF), low-calorie foods (LCF), and neutral objects were assessed in a group of 23 patients with BED, and their performance was compared to the one of 17 patients with obesity without BED and a group of 32 normal weight participants. All participants performed a mobile approach-avoidance task in which they were required to approach and avoid different stimuli by respectively pulling their phone toward themselves or pushing it away. Reaction times were analyzed. Results: analyses revealed that all the groups displayed an approach bias toward HCF. Patients with BED and healthy controls also displayed an approach bias toward LCF, a bias that was absent in obese individuals without BED. Moreover, patients with BED were faster in approaching food stimuli, both HCF and LCF, compared to healthy controls. Discussion: These behavioral tendencies are quite consistent with the real-life attitudes of both BED patients and patients with obesity and might contribute to the maintenance of unhealthy eating habits such as binging in patients with BED and high-calorie diets in patients with obesity.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1435624