Table 5.

Attentional biases as measured by the spatial cueing task.

Study	Sample	Groups	Paradigm	Findings
Lyu et al. (2016)	64 adult undergraduate students from China 100% female Mage = 21.5 y MBMI = 20.0 kg/m2	Healthy weight sub-BED (n = 33; Age = 21.5±1.4 y; BMI = 20.4±2.3 kg/m2) HC (n = 31; Age = 21.4±1.5 y; BMI = 19.6±2.1 kg/m2)	Stimuli High- and low-calorie food images (e.g. ice cream, potato chips) Matched household item images (e.g. brush, clock) Stimulus duration: 300 ms Instructions: Indicate left or right location of the dot by pressing ‘A’ or ‘L’ respectively, on standard computer keyboard.	AB for high-calorie foods Sub-BED > HC‡ AB for low-calorie foods and neutral cues No AB for low-calorie foods or household items in either group‡
Maner et al. (2006)	66 adults from the United States 100% female Mage = 18.5 y†	Participants completed EDI High EDI-BN (n = 6)† Low EDI-BN (n = 60)†	Spatial cueing stimuli Highly attractive male and female face images with neutral expressions Average-looking male and female face images with neutral expressions Stimulus duration: 500 ms Instructions: Following a single cue image in one quadrant, press “a” or “k” key to classify probe as a circle or square. Only analyzed invalid trials, in which probe appeared in a different location from the stimulus.	AB for attractive female faces (vs. mean reaction time across all stimuli) High EDI-BN > low EDI-BN (g = 1.08) Positively correlated with EDI-BN (r = .28) Overall AB NS association with EDI-BN for average-looking female faces, attractive male faces or average-looking male faces‡
Schmitz et al. (2014)	60 adults from Germany 100% female Mage = 44.0 y MBMI = 33.4 kg/m2	BED-OW (n = 27; Age = 46.0±14.5 y; BMI = 34.7±5.1 kg/m2) HC-OW (n = 33; Age = 42.4±13.5 y; BMI = 32.4±6.4 kg/m2)	Spatial cueing stimuli High calorie food images (e.g. chocolate, pizza) Neutral images of household items (e.g. hole puncher, light bulb) Stimulus duration: 100 ms Instructions: Following a single cue image, press left or right button to indicate position of subsequent dot probe, while ignoring question mark probe.	AB for food (vs. neutral) cues Stimulus and probe position “congruent” trials, representing stimulus engagement: BED > HC (g = 0.58) Stimulus and probe position “incongruent” trials, representing stimulus disengagement: NS group differences (g = 0.27) Positive correlation between stimulus engagement effect and self-reported arousal ratings (r = .34)

Note: Studies are organized alphabetically. Clinical diagnoses are based on DSM criteria (e.g. for BN) unless noted otherwise.

^†No further demographics available.

^‡Effect sizes not available.

Abbreviations: M = mean; NS = non-significant; HC = healthy controls; OW = overweight; BMI = body mass index; BED = binge eating disorder; sub = subthreshold; EDI = Eating Disorder Inventory; BN = bulimia nervosa.