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Task dependence in color‐naming latency among dieters
Author(s) -
Huon G. F.,
Brown L. B.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199605)19:4<405::aid-eat8>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - psychology , stroop effect , dieting , color term , psychopathology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , task (project management) , cognition , clinical psychology , neuroscience , linguistics , obesity , medicine , philosophy , management , weight loss , economics
Objective This study was concerned with the robustness of responses to food‐ and to body‐related words within a modified Stroop procedure. Method: A within‐subjects repeated measures design with 30 female dieters was used in order to examine task dependence in slowed color naming, with comparisons involving different dependent measures and the subjects' responses to the same stimuli using a simple computerized task. Results: The color naming of food words was retarded when compared to neutral words, and more food words than neutral words were seen to appear first in the simple computerized decision task using the same lists of words. In contrast, the time taken to color name body and neutral words did not differ. Discussion: Taken together, these results emphasize that these effects are not confined to patients with an eating disorder, and may simply reflect current community concern with healthy eating (and dieting). It is premature to advocate the Stroop procedure as an index of psychopathology, since it requires some evidence for the specificity of responses among patients with an eating disorder, and more importantly, a consensus about what might be involved in producing such effects. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.