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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.06.05.658045

Riding the savory horse: An active mindset and food macronutrient composition influence attentional bias toward food cues

Ballestero-Arnau, M.·Rodriguez-Herreros, B.·Moreno-Sanchez, M.·Cunillera, T.
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Abstract

Food cues that appear in the visual field capture our attention easily and can influence eating behavior. The current study investigated the influence of food-related stimuli on visual attention, considering the macronutrient composition of food items. Images representing sweet and savory foods were employed, the latter consisting primarily of high-protein foods. The participants were primed with these images prior to performing the attentional task. We found that both sets of food images elicited an emotional attentional blink (EAB), but a stronger EAB was observed for the high-protein foods, and this observation was further supported by a negative correlation between the attentional bias (ABias) and the proportion of protein consumed by the participants before the experiment, with participants who consumed less protein exhibiting a stronger ABias toward high-protein foods. These findings suggest that an ABias might also arise to facilitate the consumption of high-protein foods when prior consumption of this macronutrient is low.

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Ballestero-Arnau, M., Rodriguez-Herreros, B., Moreno-Sanchez, M., Cunillera, T.. 2025-06-08. Riding the savory horse: An active mindset and food macronutrient composition influence attentional bias toward food cues. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.05.658045

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