title: Attention cortical responses to enlarged faces are reduced in underweight subjects: an electroencephalographic study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A previous electroencephalographic (EEG) study has shown that obese subjects are characterized by reduced attention frontal responses to food images, thus raising the hypothesis of attention deficits associated with abnormal body weight (Babiloni et al., 2009a,b). In this line, here we tested the hypothesis of reduced attention cortical responses in underweight subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  EEG data were recorded in 16 normal-weight and 16 underweight subjects during an "oddball" paradigm. The subjects were given frequent (70%) and rare (30%) stimuli depicting faces (FACE), food (FOOD), and landscapes (CONTROL), and clicked the mouse after the rare stimuli. These stimuli depicted the same frequent stimuli graphically dilated by 25% along the horizontal axis. Cortical attention responses were probed by the difference between positive event-related potentials peaking around 400-500 ms post-stimulus for the rare minus frequent stimuli (P300). Low resolution electromagnetic source tomography (LORETA) estimated P300 sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the FACE condition, the amplitude of prefrontal (Brodmann area: BA10 and BA11) and tempo-parietal (BA19, BA20, BA21, BA22, BA36, BA37, BA39, BA40) sources was lower in the underweight than normal-weight subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that anterior-posterior cortical attention processes to face images declined in underweight subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study motivates future research evaluating if this mechanism is related to a poor judgment about body shape.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Bioagromed, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy. c.babiloni@unifg.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Babiloni
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Percio
authors.forename: Antonio Ivano
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Triggiani
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marzano
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valenzano
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petito
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellomo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soricelli
authors.forename: Brunello
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lecce
authors.forename: Ciro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mundi
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Limatola
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cibelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D004585:Electrooculography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology*; D014054:Tomography; D055815:Young Adult