A systematic review and meta-analysis of attentional bias toward food in individuals with overweight and obesity.

Attentional bias to food stimuli may contribute to the etiology and/or maintenance of overweight and obesity. We conducted a literature review and meta-analysis per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to identify the effect size associated with attentional bias to palatable food in persons with overweight/obesity across the age spectrum. Included studies measured attentional bias to food stimuli using two reaction-time tasks (dot-probe, emotional Stroop), eye-tracking methodology, and/or event-related potentials.