Do children with overweight respond faster to food-related words?. (1st June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tárrega, Josefina; Perea, Manuel; Rojo-Bofill, Luis Miguel; Moreno-Giménez, Alba; Almansa-Tomás, Belén; Vento, Máximo; García-Blanco, Ana
• Is Part Of: Appetite. Volume 161(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06-01
• Subjects: Overweight -- Food -- Word recognition -- Lexical decision -- Children; Food habits -- Periodicals; Appetite -- Periodicals; Appetite disorders -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 306.4613
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6663

Abstract

Abstract: Overweight in childhood is a risk factor in developing obesity as an adult, thus having severe consequences on the individuals' physical health and psychological well-being. Therefore, studying the cognitive and emotional processes that sustain overweight is essential not only at a theoretical level but also to develop effective interventions. In the present experiment, we examined whether children with overweight respond faster to food-related than non-food-related words in a word recognition task: lexical decision. The participants were 24 children diagnosed with exogenous overweight and 24 children with a healthy weight. The stimulus list included positively valenced food-related words and positively valenced non-food-related words matched in a number of psycholinguistic variables—we also included negatively valenced non-food words. While children with a healthy weight showed similar response times to positively valenced food-related and non-food-related words, children with overweight showed much faster response times to food-related words than to non-food-related words. Furthermore, both children with overweight and children with a healthy weight responded faster to positive than to negative words. These findings suggest a complex interplay of cognitive and emotional factors during word processing that can be used to implement more effective treatments for childhood overweight.