The processing of threat-related information in female dieters and non-dieters

It has been suggested that bulimic attitudes and behaviours serve the function of reducing awareness, especially where a situation is perceived as threatening. Considering a non-clinical population of female dieters and non-dieters, this study tested the prediction that a higher level of bulimic attitudes would be associated with an attentional bias to ‘threat’ information. Using a Stroop task, interference in the colour-naming of ‘threat’ information was positively and significantly associated with the level of bulimic attitudes in dieters only. This finding supported ‘escape from awareness’ models of bulimia.