Attentional bias for food cues in overweight children

HUO-Mingzhu,-YIN-Pengjiao,-WU-Yunxia,-LI-Wenhui

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the characteristics of overweight children s attention bias to food cues, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the behavior and life intervention of overweight children.@*Methods@#From September to October 2017, 28 normal weight children and 28 overweight children in grades 3 to 4 of a primary school in Shenyang were screened by body mass index (BMI). The point detection paradigm was used to evaluate the attention bias of overweight children to food cues.@*Results@#There was no significant difference between overweight children and control children in the score of attention bias to food cues [ F (1,52)=0.01, P> 0.05 , ηp 2 <0.01]; there was significant difference between overweight children and normal weight children in the score of facilitated attention to food cues[ F (1,52)=5.94, P<0.05, ηp 2 =0.10], normal weight children had higher score of facilitated attention to food cues than that of overweight children; there was significant difference between overweight children and normal weight children in the score of difficulty in disengaging to food cues[ F (1,52)=7.74, P<0.05, ηp 2 =0.13], overweight children had higher score of difficulty in disengaging to food cues than that of normal weight children.@*Conclusion@#Compared with normal weight children, overweight children didn t have higher attention bias to food cues; in the specific indicators of attention bias to food cues, normal weight children are more alert to food cues, while overweight children are more difficult to remove attention from food cues.