EFFECTS OF SHORT-TERM FOOD-DEPRIVATION AND CHRONIC DIETARY RESTRAINT ON THE SELECTIVE PROCESSING OR APPETITIVE-RELATED CUES

Objective: Selective processing of appetitive cues was investigated am ong food-deprived subjects and restrained eaters using the modified St roop. Method: Thirty-two university students (25 females, 7 males) wer e randomly assigned to a 6-hr food deprivation (FD) or a no food depri vation (NFD) condition. Subjects were also divided into three restrain ed eating groups-high (HR), moderate (MR), and low (LR)-according to R estraint Scale scores. Subjects color named sets of food alcohol, and leisure control words. Stroop color-naming latencies were submitted to 2 x 3 (Food Deprivation Condition x Word Type) and 3 x 3 (Restrained Eating Group x Word Type) repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOV As). Results: Food deprivation failed to produce longer latencies for food or alcohol words relative to control words. However, HR status wa s associated with significantly longer latencies for both food and alc ohol, relative to control, words. Discussion: Chronic dietary restrain t but not short-term food deprivation was associated with selective pr ocessing of appetitive cues. The results have implications for underst anding food preoccupation and risk for alcohol abuse in restrained eat ers. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.