title: Electrophysiological indices of visual food cue-reactivity. Differences in obese, overweight and normal weight women.
abstract: Heightened food cue-reactivity in overweight and obese individuals has been related to aberrant functioning of neural circuitry implicated in motivational behaviours and reward-seeking. Here we explore the neurophysiology of visual food cue-reactivity in overweight and obese women, as compared with normal weight women, by assessing differences in cortical arousal and attentional processing elicited by food and neutral image inserts in a Stroop task with record of EEG spectral band power and ERP responses. Results show excess right frontal (F8) and left central (C3) relative beta band activity in overweight women during food task performance (indicative of pronounced early visual cue-reactivity) and blunted prefrontal (Fp1 and Fp2) theta band activity in obese women during office task performance (suggestive of executive dysfunction). Moreover, as compared to normal weight women, food images elicited greater right parietal (P4) ERP P200 amplitude in overweight women (denoting pronounced early attentional processing) and shorter right parietal (P4) ERP P300 latency in obese women (signifying enhanced and efficient maintained attentional processing). Differential measures of cortical arousal and attentional processing showed significant correlations with self-reported eating behaviour and body shape dissatisfaction, as well as with objectively assessed percent fat mass. The findings of the present study suggest that heightened food cue-reactivity can be neurophysiologically measured, that different neural circuits are implicated in the pathogenesis of overweight and obesity, and that EEG techniques may serve useful in the identification of endophenotypic markers associated with an increased risk of externally mediated food consumption.
authors.affiliation: MRC/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Newlands, Cape Town 7725, South Africa. Electronic address: davidjohnhume@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David John
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hume
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory, 7925, South Africa.
authors.forename: Fleur Margaret
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Howells
authors.affiliation: MRC/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Newlands, Cape Town 7725, South Africa.
authors.forename: H G Laurie
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rauch
authors.affiliation: MRC/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Newlands, Cape Town 7725, South Africa.
authors.forename: Jacolene
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kroff
authors.affiliation: MRC/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Newlands, Cape Town 7725, South Africa.
authors.forename: Estelle Victoria
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Lambert
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Attentional processing; Cortical arousal; Electroencephalography (EEG); Event-related potentials (ERPs); Obesity; Relative band power