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The Processing of Food Stimuli in Abnormal Eating: A Systematic Review of Electrophysiology
Author(s) -
Wolz Ines,
Fagundo Ana B.,
Treasure Janet,
FernándezAranda Fernando
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.2366
Subject(s) - bulimia nervosa , psychology , attentional bias , disengagement theory , eating disorders , anorexia nervosa , food craving , binge eating , craving , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , gerontology , addiction
To update the knowledge about attentional processing of food stimuli, a systematic review of electrophysiological studies was conducted using PubMed, PsychInfo and Web of Knowledge (2000–2014). Twenty‐one studies were included into a qualitative synthesis. Presentation of food and control pictures was used to analyze event‐related potentials related to sensory processing and motivated attention. Results show consistent attentional bias towards food pictures compared with neutral pictures for patient and control groups. Group comparisons between individuals with abnormal‐eating and healthy‐eating participants were more inconsistent. Results suggest that temporal differences in the millisecond range are essential for the understanding of visual food processing. In obesity, early attention engagement to food is followed by relatice disengagement. Loss of control eating, as well as external and emotional eating, are associated with a sustained maintenance of attention towards high‐caloric food. There is a lack of studies in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.