Lyon Neuroscience Research Center INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France.
School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 23;7(1):13839. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13662-z.
Immersing ourselves in food images can sometimes make it feel subjectively real, as if the actual food were right in front of us. Excessive self-immersion into mental content, however, is a hallmark of psychological distress, and of several psychiatric conditions. Being aware that imagined events are not necessarily an accurate depiction of reality is a key feature of psychotherapeutic approaches akin to mindfulness-based interventions. Yet, it is still largely unknown to what extent one's engagement with mental content, considering it as real, biases one's automatic tendencies toward the world. In this study, we measured the change in subjective realism induced by a self-immersion and a mindful attention instruction, using self-reports and saliva volumes. Then, we measured behaviorally the impact of subjective realism changes on automatic approach bias toward attractive food (FAB) using an approach-avoidance task. We found a reduction in saliva volume, followed by a reduction in FAB in the mindful condition compared to the immersed condition. During the immersed condition only, saliva volumes, state and trait measures of subjective realism, and food craving traits were positively correlated with FAB values, whereas meditation experience was negatively correlated to it. We conclude that mindful attention instructions can de-automatize food bias.
沉浸在食物的图像中有时会让我们主观上感觉食物就在眼前，仿佛真实存在。然而，过度地沉浸在心理内容中是心理困扰和几种精神疾病的标志。意识到想象的事件不一定能准确地反映现实，这是类似于正念干预的心理治疗方法的一个关键特征。然而，人们对心理内容的参与程度，以及将其视为真实的程度，会在多大程度上影响人们对世界的自动倾向，这在很大程度上仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们使用自我报告和唾液量来衡量自我沉浸和正念注意指令引起的主观现实变化。然后，我们使用趋近回避任务测量主观现实变化对吸引力食物（FAB）的自动趋近偏向的行为影响。我们发现，与沉浸条件相比，在正念条件下唾液量减少，随后 FAB 减少。只有在沉浸条件下，唾液量、状态和特质的主观现实测量以及食物渴望特质与 FAB 值呈正相关，而冥想经验则与之呈负相关。我们得出结论，正念注意指令可以使食物偏向去自动化。
