Effects of Thought Suppression on Subliminally and Supraliminally Presented Food-related Stimuli

Dejonckheere, Peter; Braet, Caroline; Soetens, Barbara

doi:10.1375/bech.20.4.223.29379

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…Supraliminal threat cue priming may affect subsequent subliminal and supraliminal attentional patterns, as well outcomes and coping associated with biases (Luecken et al, 2004). Conscious attempts to divert attention from supraliminal cues may make these cues hyperaccessible at the subliminal level (Dejonckheere, Braet, & Soetens, 2003; Wegner, 1994). Second, although a 1250 ms interval between word pair presentation and target appearance is standard in studies of attentional bias studies in children, in college students, it is sufficiently long to allow movements of attention between the two stimulus words (Reed & Derryberry, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits, states, and attentional gates: Temperament and threat relevance as predictors of attentional bias to social threat

Helzer

Connor-Smith

Reed

2009

Anxiety, Stress & Coping

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This study investigated the influence of situational and dispositional factors on attentional biases toward social threat, and the impact of these attentional biases on distress in a sample of adolescents. Results suggest greater biases for personally-relevant threat cues, as individuals reporting high social stress were vigilant to subliminal social threat cues, but not physical threat cues, and those reporting low social stress showed no attentional biases. Individual differences in fearful temperament and attentional control interacted to influence attentional biases, with fearful temperament predicting biases to supraliminal social threat only for individuals with poor attentional control. Multivariate analyses exploring relations between attentional biases for social threat and symptoms of anxiety and depression revealed that attentional biases alone were rarely related to symptoms. However, biases did interact with social stress, fearful temperament, and attentional control to predict distress. Results are discussed in terms of automatic and effortful cognitive mechanisms underlying threat cue processing. Keywords attentional bias; temperament; social stress; subliminal; supraliminal; dot probe Attentional allocation involves a rich network of automatic and volitional processes, which may be influenced by both situational factors and individual differences (Gilboa-Schechtman, Revelle, & Gotlib, 2000;Rueda, Posner, & Rothbart, 2004;MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002;Matthews & Wells, 2000). Hundreds of studies have investigated relations between state or trait anxiety and attentional biases, demonstrating a consistent link between anxiety and vigilance to threat. Temperament traits involving sensitivity to threat (e.g., negative affectivity, trait anxiety) are associated with automatic allocation of attention to threat (Derryberry & Reed, 2002;, and are strongly linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression (Rothbart, Posner, & Hershey, 1995; Compas, ConnorSmith, & Jaser, 2004;Muris, de Jong, & Engelen, 2004), bolstering the notion that threat cue vigilance is problematic. Although vigilance to threat is often discussed as a potential cause of anxiety, attentional biases may also be a response to anxiety or stress, as individuals are more likely to be vigilant to threat cues relevant to current concerns. For example, women with Address correspondence to Erik Helzer, Cornell University, Department of Psychology, 211 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. E-mail: egh42@cornell.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAnxiety Stress Coping. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 January 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript cancer are vigilant to supraliminal cancer threat words (Glinder, Beckjord, Kaiser, & Compas, 2007), and children with chronic abdominal pain are vigilant to subliminal pain threat words (Boyer, Compas, Stanger, Colletti, Konik, Morrow, & Thomsen, 2006), while neither group is vigilant to social threat words. Despite links between ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits, states, and attentional gates: Temperament and threat relevance as predictors of attentional bias to social threat

Helzer

Connor-Smith

Reed

2009

Anxiety, Stress & Coping

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“…Individuals who purposely attempt to avoid unwanted thoughts also may experience an increased priming of the to-be-suppressed thoughts (hyperaccessibility; Wegner & Erber, 1992). Despite the relatively few studies examining the association between thought suppression and eating behaviors, existing research does indicate the outcomes of thought suppression, such as hyperaccessibility and rebound, also result from attempting to suppress food-related thoughts (Dejonckheere, Braet, & Soetens, 2003; Smart & Wegner, 1999). …”

Section: 1 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food thought suppression: A matched comparison of obese individuals with and without binge eating disorder

Barnes¹,

Masheb²,

Grilo³

2011

Eating Behaviors

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Preliminary studies of non-clinical samples suggest that purposely attempting to avoid thoughts of food, referred to as food thought suppression, is related to a number of unwanted eating- and weight-related consequences, particularly in obese individuals. Despite possible implications for the treatment of obesity and eating disorders, little research has examined food thought suppression in obese individuals with binge eating disorder (BED). This study compared food thought suppression in 60 obese patients with BED to an age-, gender-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched group of 59 obese persons who do not binge eat (NBO). In addition, this study examined the associations between food thought suppression and eating disorder psychopathology within the BED and NBO groups and separately by gender. Participants with BED and women endorsed the highest levels of food thought suppression. Food thought suppression was significantly and positively associated with many features of ED psychopathology in NBO women and with eating concerns in men with BED. Among women with BED, higher levels of food thought suppression were associated with higher frequency of binge eating, whereas among men with BED, higher levels of food thought suppression were associated with lower frequency of binge eating. Our findings suggest gender differences in the potential significance of food thought suppression in obese groups with and without co-existing binge eating problems.

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“…The nascent research investigating the relationship between thought suppression and eating behaviors have reported mixed findings. Some studies [3,4,5,6,7] found that the outcomes of thought suppression, such as hyperaccessibility and rebound, do result from attempting to suppress food-related thoughts, whereas one study did not [8,9,10]. The latter study, however, [8] did not examine if the outcomes of thought suppression differed between participants who were currently dieting versus not or healthy weight versus overweight/obese, both of which appear to affect the outcomes of thought suppression [11–13].…”

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confidence: 99%

Examining the relationship between food thought suppression and binge eating disorder

Barnes¹,

Masheb²,

White³

et al. 2013

Comprehensive Psychiatry

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Food thought suppression, or purposely attempting to avoid thoughts of food, is related to a number of unwanted eating- and weight-related consequences, particularly in dieting and obese individuals. Little is known about the possible significance of food thought suppression in clinical samples, particularly obese patients who binge eat. This study examined food thought suppression in 150 obese patients seeking treatment for binge eating disorder (BED). Food thought suppression was not associated with binge eating frequency or body mass index but was significantly associated with higher current levels of eating disorder psychopathology and variables pertaining to obesity, dieting, and binge eating.

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Effects of Thought Suppression on Subliminally and Supraliminally Presented Food-related Stimuli

Cited by 15 publications

References 13 publications

Traits, states, and attentional gates: Temperament and threat relevance as predictors of attentional bias to social threat

Traits, states, and attentional gates: Temperament and threat relevance as predictors of attentional bias to social threat

Food thought suppression: A matched comparison of obese individuals with and without binge eating disorder

Examining the relationship between food thought suppression and binge eating disorder

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