title: Self-regulatory depletion enhances neural responses to rewards and impairs top-down control.
abstract: To be successful at self-regulation, individuals must be able to resist impulses and desires. The strength model of self-regulation suggests that when self-regulatory capacity is depleted, self-control deficits result from a failure to engage top-down control mechanisms. Using functional neuroimaging, we examined changes in brain activity in response to viewing desirable foods among 31 chronic dieters, half of whom completed a task known to result in self-regulatory depletion. Compared with nondepleted dieters, depleted dieters exhibited greater food-cue-related activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a brain area associated with coding the reward value and liking aspects of desirable foods; they also showed decreased functional connectivity between this area and the inferior frontal gyrus, a region commonly implicated in self-control. These findings suggest that self-regulatory depletion provokes self-control failure by reducing connectivity between brain regions that are involved in cognitive control and those that represent rewards, thereby decreasing the capacity to resist temptations.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth College.
authors.forename: Dylan D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Myra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.forename: Rebecca G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Boswell
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Todd F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Heatherton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: depletion; fMRI; food; orbitofrontal cortex; reward; self-control; self-regulation
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Sep;23(9):2123-34
references.pmid: 20809855
references.citation: Evol Psychol. 2010 Jun 02;8(2):244-59
references.pmid: 22947794
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2003 Oct;13(10):1064-71
references.pmid: 12967923
references.citation: Perspect Psychol Sci. 2012 Sep;7(5):450-63
references.pmid: 26168503
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2004 Apr;8(4):170-7
references.pmid: 15050513
references.citation: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010 Jul;99(1):162-73
references.pmid: 20565193
references.citation: Neuroimage. 1997 Oct;6(3):218-29
references.pmid: 9344826
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2006 May 10;26(19):5160-6
references.pmid: 16687507
references.citation: Science. 2009 May 1;324(5927):646-8
references.pmid: 19407204
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004 Oct;23(2):483-99
references.pmid: 15488398
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2010 Nov;21(11):1686-93
references.pmid: 20876879
references.citation: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Apr;8(4):410-7
references.pmid: 22842815
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2011 Apr;22(4):498-506
references.pmid: 21378368
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2003 May;19(1):200-7
references.pmid: 12781739
references.citation: Pers Soc Psychol Rev. 2012 May;16(2):143-53
references.pmid: 21896791
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Jul;24(7):1625-33
references.pmid: 22524295
references.citation: Science. 2003 Aug 22;301(5636):1104-7
references.pmid: 12934011
references.citation: Brain Cogn. 2010 Feb;72(1):124-33
references.pmid: 19695759
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 17;107(33):14811-6
references.pmid: 20679212
references.citation: Health Psychol. 2009 May;28(3):300-6
references.pmid: 19450035
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Aug;23(8):1952-63
references.pmid: 20807052
references.citation: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Jul;85(1):33-46
references.pmid: 12872883
references.citation: Psychol Addict Behav. 2002 Jun;16(2):113-20
references.pmid: 12079249
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 2010 Jul;136(4):495-525
references.pmid: 20565167
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2010 Dec;21(12):1863-70
references.pmid: 21106885
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2006 Jul 1;31(3):968-80
references.pmid: 16530430
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2012 Jun;23(6):582-8
references.pmid: 22547657
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Mar;15(3):132-9
references.pmid: 21273114
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2013 Jan;23(1):49-60
references.pmid: 22250290
references.citation: J Abnorm Psychol. 1991 Feb;100(1):78-83
references.pmid: 2005275
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Feb;22(2):248-62
references.pmid: 19400679
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Apr 27;107(17):7922-6
references.pmid: 20385798
references.citation: J Abnorm Psychol. 1988 Feb;97(1):19-28
references.pmid: 3280636
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2006 Jan 4;26(1):186-92
references.pmid: 16399686
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Mar 1;55(1):296-303
references.pmid: 21111829
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2000 May;11(3):249-54
references.pmid: 11273412