Audiovisual attentional blink in restrained eaters: Modulation by sound and DLPFC tDCS

Although auditory stimuli can enhance target perception and attentional shifting during attentional blink (AB), the effect on restrained eaters facing food and the role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in this process remain unclear. Experiment 1 used food as the first target (T1) and presented auditory tones synchronized with the second target (T2) to explore sound's effect on AB in restrained eaters with food attentional bias. Results showed auditory tones improved AB, but successful restrained eaters (SRE) still had stronger AB than failed restrained eaters (FRE). This may be due to SRE's greater inhibition of eating behavior. Experiments 2a and 2b used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to excite (2a) and inhibit (2b) DLPFC neural activity. After anodic stimulation, FRE's T2|T1 accuracy was decreased while SRE showed no such change. After cathodic stimulation, SRE's T2|T1 accuracy was increased (improved AB) and FRE lost the sound-induced AB improvement. These results indicate that although auditory tones improve AB in restrained eaters exposed to food, this improvement varies with individual differences in restraint success, as modulated by DLPFC-mediated attentional inhibitory control. Appropriately reducing attentional inhibitory control helps decrease attentional resource allocation to food stimuli and thus improves AB.