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1000
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Abstract/Summary
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The omnipresence of food cues in everyday life has been linked to troubled eating
behavior and rising rates of obesity. While extended research has been conducted on the
effects of negative emotions and stress on food consumption, very little is known about
how positive emotions affect eating and particularly attention toward food cues. In the
present study, we investigated whether humor impacts attentional bias toward food and
whether it will affect preferences for healthy and unhealthy food items, depending on the
hunger state. To do so, a group of randomly assigned participants watched funny video
clips (humor group, N = 46) or neutral ones (control group, N = 49). Afterwards, they
performed a modified Posner cueing task with low or high caloric food images serving
as cues. We found a significant group × hunger interaction. Compared to the control
group, the humor group responded more slowly to food cues when hungry, whereas
the opposite was true when participants were satiated. Additionally, our results suggest
that hunger possibly directs attention away from healthy food cues and toward unhealthy
ones. No group differences were found with respect to food preferences and engagement
and disengagement of attention. We discuss the potential of humor in counteracting
aversive consequences of hunger on attention allocation toward food. We propose an
underlying mechanism involving a combined reduction in cortisol levels and a decrease
in activation of the reward system. However, given the novelty of the findings, further
research is warranted, both to replicate the results as well as to investigate the suggested
underlying processes.
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