HUNGER, CALORIC PRELOADING AND THE SELECTIVE PROCESSING OF FOOD AND BODY SHAPE WORDS

Fifty-three female subjects performed a modified Stroop colour-naming task 30 minutes after consuming a high-calorie preload, a low-calorie preload or water. Half of the subjects were 18 hours food deprived pri or to testing. Food restriction and the caloric density of the preload had no effect on the colour-naming of food-related words. However, im pairments in the colour-naming of food-related words did vary accordin g to the subjects' self-reported hunger level. This relationship betwe en hunger and colour-naming impairment was not linear, with the most h ungry subjects displaying the smallest impairment in the colour naming of food words. The results are interpreted in terms of recent thought on the relationship between attentional processing and fear arousal.