3 research outputs found
Food as an eyeâcatcher. An eyeâtracking study on Children's attention to healthy and unhealthy food presentations as well as nonâedible objects in audiovisual media
BACKGROUND:
Food presentations within media content are often made responsible for todays' obesity epidemic. This assessment is based on the assumption that food presentations create cue reactivity, which in turn affects the amount of food intake.
OBJECTIVE:
This study investigates children's implicit reactions (cue reactivity) toward healthy, unhealthy, and nonâediblel objects.
METHODS:
We conducted an experimental eyeâtracking study comparing children's cue reactivity assessed with visual attention toward healthy and unhealthy food presentations, as well as nonâedible objects. We controlled for the role of children's hunger, body mass index (BMI), and age.
RESULTS:
Results indicated no difference between healthy and unhealthy food presentations, yet food generally aroused more visual attention in children compared to nonâedible objects. Explicit memory for the embedded foods or objects was mediated through visual attention. However, unhealthy food presentations also directly affected children's explicit memory.
CONCLUSIONS:
Compared to nonâedible objects, food presentations seem to be eyeâcatchers that immediately grab children's attention and they are also able to maintain this attention. Yet, for unhealthy food presentations, memory seems to be less dependent on visual attention. That is, compared to healthy products or nonâedible objects, unhealthy food presentations do not require the same amount of visual attention in order to be remembered.© 2020 The Author