OBJECTIVE Attentional bias to food cues may be a risk factor for childhood obesity, yet there are few paradigms to measure such biases in young children. Therefore, the present work introduces an eye-tracking visual search task to measure attentional bias in young children. METHODS Fifty-one 3-6-year-olds played a game to find a target cartoon character among food (experimental condition) or toy (control condition) distractors. Children completed the experimental and toy conditions on two separate visits in randomized order. Behavioral (response latencies) and eye-tracking measures (initial orientation, initial fixation, cumulative fixation) of attention to food and toy cues were computed. Regressions were used to test for attentional bias to food versus toy cues, and whether attentional bias to food cues was related to current BMI z-score. RESULTS Children spent more cumulative time looking at food versus toy distractors and took longer to locate the target when searching through food versus toy distractors. The faster children fixated on their first food versus toy distractor was associated with higher BMI z-scores. CONCLUSIONS Using a game-based paradigm employing eye-tracking, we found a behavioral attentional bias to food vs. toy distractors in young children. Further, attentional bias to food cues was associated with current BMI z-score.

中文翻译：

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使用视觉搜索任务测量幼儿对食物线索的注意力偏差：眼动追踪研究

目标 对食物线索的注意力偏差可能是儿童肥胖的危险因素，但很少有范式可以衡量幼儿的这种偏差。因此，目前的工作引入了眼动追踪视觉搜索任务来测量幼儿的注意力偏差。方法 51 名 3-6 岁儿童玩游戏，在食物（实验条件）或玩具（控制条件）干扰物中寻找目标卡通人物。儿童以随机顺序在两次单独的访问中完成了实验和玩具条件。计算了对食物和玩具线索的注意力的行为（反应延迟）和眼动追踪措施（初始方向、初始注视、累积注视）。回归用于测试对食物与玩具线索的注意偏向，以及对食物线索的注意偏向是否与当前的 BMI z 分数相关。结果 与玩具干扰物相比，儿童在食物和玩具干扰物上花费的累积时间更长，并且在搜索食物与玩具干扰物时需要更长的时间来定位目标。与玩具干扰器相比，儿童专注于他们的第一份食物的速度更快与更高的 BMI z 分数相关。结论 使用眼动追踪的基于游戏的范式，我们发现幼儿对食物与玩具干扰物的行为注意偏差。此外，对食物线索的注意力偏差与当前的 BMI z 分数相关。我们发现幼儿对食物与玩具干扰物的行为注意力偏差。此外，对食物线索的注意力偏差与当前的 BMI z 分数相关。我们发现幼儿对食物与玩具干扰物的行为注意力偏差。此外，对食物线索的注意力偏差与当前的 BMI z 分数相关。