Attention Disengagement Difficulties among Average Weight Women Who Binge Eat.

In this study, we assessed biases in attention disengagement among average-weight women with binge-eating (n = 33) and non-eating disordered controls (n = 31). Participants engaged in a spatial cueing paradigm task wherein they first observed high-calorie food, low-calorie food, or neutral images and then had to quickly locate targets in either the same or a different location. Within both groups, reaction times (RTs) were longer to valid-cued trials (i.e. target appearing in location of preceding cue) than to invalid-cued trials (i.e. targets appearing in location different from initial location), reflecting a general inhibition of return (IOR) effect. However, RT findings also indicated that women with BE had significantly more difficulty disengaging from high-calorie food images than did controls, even though neither group had disengagement problems related to other image types. Selective attention disengagement difficulties related to high-calorie food images suggested that increased reward sensitivity to such cues is related to binge eating risk.