Table 1.

A summary of food-related attention bias studies in OB/OW visual probe task individuals between 2009–2011

Study	Study groups	Measure of attention	Stimuli	Attention parameters (oriented/maintained attention)	Hunger/satiety intervention	Main findings: difference between OW/OB and NW subjects	Main findings: positive association between attention bias and subjective craving
Castellanos et al. [14]	18 OB and 18 NW women	ET during performance of a VPT	Pairs of pictures of HC/LC foods and non-food items	ET direction bias	Hunger (> 8 h) + satiety (shake 400 kcal; within-subjects design)	ET direction + duration bias:	Direction/duration bias ~ hunger
				ET duration bias		Hunger: OB = NW
				VPT RT bias 2,000 ms		Satiety: reduced in NW; retained in OB
Werthmann et al. [15]	22 OW/OB and 29 NW women	ET during performance of a VPT	Pairs of pictures of high-fat foods and non-food items	ET direction bias	Restrain from eating 2 h prior to testing; satiated with a lunch (400–500 kcal) before testing	ET direction bias: OW/OB > NW	In OW/OB: ET duration bias ~ craving
				ET first fixation duration bias		ET first fixation duration bias: OW/OB < NW
				ET duration bias
				VPT RT duration bias 2,000 ms
Nijs et al. [16•]	26 OW/OB and 40 NW women	ET, VPT, ERP	Pairs of pictures of HC foods and non-food items	ET direction bias	Hunger (17 h) + satiety (shake 600 kcal; between-subjects design)	RT bias 100 ms: OW/OB > NW, especially in hunger	In NW: P300 bias ~ hunger
				ET duration bias		P300 bias:	In OW/OB: VPT direction bias ~ hunger
				VPT RT direction bias 100 ms		Hunger: OW/OB < NW
				VPT RT duration bias 500 ms
				P300 ERP bias		Satiety: OW/OB > NW
Nijs et al. [17]	20 OB and 20 NW men and women	ERP during a food-modified Stroop task	Words, referring to HC foods and non-food items	P200 ERP	Light meal 2 h prior to testing	P200 bias: OB > NW	In OB: Stroop RT bias ~ craving
							In NW: P200/P300 bias ~ craving
				P300 ERP
				Stroop RT
Phelan et al. [22]	15 long-term successful weight loss maintainers, 14 OB, 19 NW	Food-modified Stroop task	Words, referring to HC and LC foods	Stroop RT	Fasting state (>4 h)	Stroop RT interference HC words: successful dieters slower than OB/NW	–
Loeber et al. [26]	20 OB and 20 NW men and women	VPT	Pairs of pictures of foods and non-food items	VPT RT bias 50 ms	Restrain from eating 3 h prior to testing	–	–
Graham et al. [31]	15 OW/OB and 21 NW women	ET	Pairs of pictures of HC sweet foods; HC savory foods; LC foods	ET direction bias	–	Direction bias LC food: OW/OB > NW	–
				ET duration bias

BMI body mass index; ERP event-related potentials; ET eye tracking; HC high-calorie; LC low-calorie; NW normal weight (BMI 18.5–25 kg/m²); OB obese (BMI > 30 kg/m²); OW overweight (BMI 25–30 kg/m²); RT reaction time; VPT visual probe task