Appetite
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Research suggests that caloric restriction (CR) is beneficial; however, the effects of CR in the context of food cues are unclear. A 2 (food cue vs. no cue)x2 (CR vs. ad lib) between-subjects design was employed to test these effects in 40 rats. It was predicted that cue exposure and CR would induce stress, and that these factors might interact synergistically. ⋯ A blunted stress response was evident in CR rats relative to ad lib rats. Finally, cue-exposed rats had higher corticosterone levels and body weight during ad lib feeding than did non-cued rats. These results suggest that both CR and chronic food-cue exposure can be stressful, and the implications of this research are discussed in the context of humans' 'obesigenic' environment.
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Following negative reinforcement and affect-regulation models of dysfunctional appetitive motivation, this study examined the effect of negative mood on objective and subjective cognitive indices of motivation for food; i.e., attentional bias for food cues and self-reported hunger/urge to eat, respectively. The study extended previous research on the effect of mood on food motivation by using (i) an experimental mood manipulation, (ii) an established index of attentional bias from the visual-probe task and (iii) pictorial food cues, which have greater ecological validity than word stimuli. Young female adults (n=80) were randomly allocated to a neutral or negative mood induction procedure. ⋯ Attentional bias was also associated with trait eating style, such as external and restrained eating. Thus, current mood and trait eating style each influenced motivation for food (as reflected by subjective appetite and attentional bias). Findings relate to models of cognitive mechanisms underlying normal and dysfunctional appetitive motivation and eating behaviour.