title: Probing behavioral responses to food: development of a food-specific go/no-go task.
abstract: The ability to exert self-control in the face of appetitive, alluring cues is a critical component of healthy development. The development of behavioral measures that use disease-relevant stimuli can greatly improve our understanding of cue-specific impairments in self-control. To produce such a tool relevant to the study of eating and weight disorders, we modified the traditional go/no-go task to include food and non-food targets. To confirm that performance on this new task was consistent with other go/no-go tasks, it was given to 147 healthy, normal weight volunteers between the ages of 5 and 30. High-resolution photos of food or toys were used as the target and nontarget stimuli. Consistent with expectations, overall improvements in accuracy were seen from childhood to adulthood. Participants responded more quickly and made more commission errors to food cues compared to nonfood cues (F(1,140)=21.76, P<0.001), although no behavioral differences were seen between low- and high-calorie food cues for this non-obese, healthy developmental sample. This novel food-specific go/no-go task may be used to track the development of self-control in the context of food cues and to evaluate deviations or deficits in the development of this ability in individuals at risk for eating problem behaviors and disorders.
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address: tteslovich@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teslovich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Eve K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Freidl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kostro
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Juliet Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Davidow
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Megan C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Riddle
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Chelsea
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helion
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dreyfuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: B Timothy
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Betty Jo
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: lsm16@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mayer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight; D066249:Craving; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive control; Eating behavior; Impulsivity