The studies reported here were intended to examine how affective andudmotivational factors influence attentional processing of goal objects, such asudfood, by exploiting modified versions of an Emotional Blink of Attentionud(EBA) task originally reported by Piech, Pastorino & Zald (2010).udAttentional capture by food distractors presented within a rapid serial visualudstream (RSVP) was measured by the extent to which they induced anudattentional blink and prevented the correct identification of a subsequentlyudpresented, specific visual target.udInitially, we explored temporal changes in attention to food images inudrelation to spontaneous changes in appetite that naturally occur before andudafter a sandwich lunch. Replicating earlier reports that fasting-inducedudhunger increases attention to food images, we found that attention to fooduddepended on the level of appetite: increasing pre-prandially as hungerudincreased, and falling to a minimum after satiation. Moreover, changes inudattention to food were seen to reflect subjective ratings of food pleasantnessudassociated with the phenomenon of sensory-specific satiety. Notably, imagesudof the consumed food became less distracting after lunch than images ofudnon-consumed foods belonging to the same sandwich category or, moreudparticularly, those representing very different food types. The EBA data alsouddemonstrated that attentional bias for images of highly palatable, highcalorieuddesserts was largely immune to changing levels of appetite.udSubsequent experiments confirmed that high palatability/high calorie foodsudwith high intrinsic incentive value (cheesecake) potently capture attentionudeven after being eaten to satiety. By contrast, satiation on palatable, sweetudfruits did produce sensory-specific changes in attentional bias to fruit imagesudin the EBA. These findings indicate that attention to food images isuddependent, via separate processes, on the motivational salience andudincentive value of food stimuli.udIt was noted that affective state (measured using PANAS) varied withudappetite level: satiety was associated with a reduction in negative affect and increased positive affect. The relationship between affect, eating motivationudand attention were explored further using an ‘Affective EBA’ paradigm, inudwhich neutral filler images within the RSVP were substituted by images ofudfaces displaying positive or negative emotions. Positive affective primingudusing this technique resulted in an enhancement of attentional bias to fooduddistractors (but not to neutral or romantic distractors). Negative priming, byudcontrast had no effect.udA final experiment explored whether the ability of positive affective primingudto increase attentional bias to food might attenuate the previously noted,udfood-specific, postprandial decline in attentional capture by food stimuli. Weudfound that in sated individuals, positive priming did produce a generaludincrease in attention to food which was in opposition to the expected,udsatiety-related decline in attentional bias.udOverall, the present findings strongly support a key role for attentionaludmechanisms in the processes that mediate the influence of motivational andudincentive salience in energizing and directing goal-related behaviours, suchudas food seeking and consumption.
展开▼
