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Published on: May 8, 2018
A Pilot Randomized Control Trial Testing a Smartphone-Delivered Food Attention Retraining Program in Adolescent Girls
Megan N Parker1,2, Bess F Bloomer1, Jeffrey D Stout3
1Section on Growth and Obesity, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 10 Center Drive, Room 1-3330, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Smartphone attention retraining (AR) minimally impacted food attention bias in adolescent girls. However, the program showed potential for altering neural attention processing and warrants further investigation in larger studies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Attention bias (AB) towards food is linked to obesity.
- The effectiveness of attention retraining (AR) programs in modifying adolescent eating behavior is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a smartphone-delivered AR program can alter food AB in adolescent girls with overweight.
- To examine the impact of AR on neural correlates of attention and subsequent eating behavior.
Main Methods:
- Adolescents with overweight completed a 2-week smartphone-delivered AR or control program.
- Food-cue visual-probe tasks with magnetoencephalography (MEG) and a laboratory test meal were administered before and after the program.
Main Results:
- The AR program showed minimal effect on attention bias scores.
- A small effect was observed on energy intake, with the AR group consuming slightly more.
- Within the AR group, blunted reward response engagement and increased goal-directed attention were noted in brain activity.
Conclusions:
- Preliminary evidence suggests the smartphone-delivered AR program can alter neural attention processing in adolescent girls with overweight or obesity.
- Larger studies are required to determine if AR interventions can effectively reduce the link between food AB and eating behaviors.
