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According to elaborated intrusion theory, intrusive thoughts about food may trigger craving and consumption unless the individual is distracted or redirected. However, load theory of attention shows that a task has different effects on selective attention depending on the level of perceptual and cognitive load. High perceptual load exhausts attentional capacity and so reduces interference from both external and internal stimuli, including intrusive thoughts (Forster & Lavie, 2009). This has not yet been tested regarding food related intrusive thoughts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test whether perceptual load reduces food-related intrusive thoughts. Forty female participants were tested using a visual search task, in which participants searched for target letters (X or N) that appeared randomly in one of six locations around a circle. Load was manipulated within subjects by increasing the set size: under low load …