Liviu A. Fodor1,2, Ana Cosmoiu3, Ioana R. Podina3,4*
*ioana.r.podina@gmail.com
1 International Institute for The Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health,
Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 Evidence Based Psychological Assessment and Interventions Doctoral School, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3 Laboratory of cognitive clinical sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
4 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Abstract
Background and aims: Cognitive bias modification (CBM) interventions for attention to and approach of appetitive food stimuli, especially approach-avoidance training (AAT) and attention bias modifications (ABM), have received a lot of attention lately. However, as far as we know the effect of these interventions has not been investigated so far by means of a quantitative meta-analysis.
Methods: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on AAT/ABM interventions for attention to and approach of appetitive food stimuli. A random-effects model was used for pooling the effect sizes, which were calculated for bias scores and food consumption/craving (FC/C) outcomes at post-intervention, and we also examined risk of bias, publication bias, and possible other moderators.
Results: We included 15 RCTs, of which seven RCTs employed an AAT intervention and eight RCTs employed an ABM intervention. At post-intervention, there were significant effects sizes favoring CBM in terms of bias scores (g = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.79) and FC/C outcomes (g = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.38). The type of bias intervention and the type of control group were significant moderators of the effect size for the bias scores outcome. The risk of bias was uncertain in most of the trials and we found no evidence of publication bias.
Conclusions: Overall, these findings indicate that CBM interventions are showing promise in the overweight/obese and maladaptive eating domains. However, the quality of the RCTs entails a more cautious interpretation of these effect sizes. Other limitations and possible implications are discussed.
Keywords: cognitive bias modification, approach avoidance, attentional bias, maladaptive eating
Published online: 2017/09/01
Published print: 2017/09/01
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