Efficacy of a combined food-response inhibition and attention training for weight loss

Authors

• Eric Stice, Stanford University
• Sonja Yokum, Oregon Research Institute
• Timothy D. Nelson, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
• Elliot Berkman, University of Oregon
• Harm Veling, Radboud University Nijmegen
• Natalia Lawrence, University of Exeter

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2-17-2023

Citation

Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2022 August ; 46: . doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101168.

Comments

HHS Public Access.

Abstract

This Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences article reviews trials that evaluated an obesity treatment that combines response-inhibition training with high-calorie foods and training designed to reduce attention for high-calorie foods. Two randomized controlled trials suggest that food-response inhibition and attention training produced significant body-fat loss, along with a reduction in valuation of, and reward-region response to, high-calorie foods. However, these effects did not emerge in a third trial, potentially because this trial used more heterogeneous food images, which reduced inhibition learning and attentional learning. Collectively, results suggest that food-response inhibition and attention training can devalue high-calorie foods and result in weight loss, but only if a homogeneous set of high-calorie and low-calorie food images is used.