Restrained eaters show enhanced automatic approach tendencies towards food

Although restrained eaters intend to limit their caloric intake, they nevertheless frequently fail and indulge in exactly the foods they want to avoid. Because automatic food-relevant approach tendencies and affective associations may both (independently) contribute to the dysregulation of food intake, the present study was designed to investigate the importance of both processes in relation to high-fat and low-fat food in restrained and unrestrained eaters. Both restrained and unrestrained eaters demonstrated stronger automatic liking associations with high-fat food than with low-fat food items, whereas a similar pattern was absent in their self-reports of liking food. Interestingly, specifically restrained eaters also displayed relatively strong automatic approach tendencies. These results appear to be consistent with the incentive-sensitization theory (Robinson & Berridge, 2001), as overeating seems not so much to be characterized by enhanced liking of food but by stronger automatic approach tendencies towards food.