Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, 718B Harrington Tower, TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-4225, USA.
Brain Topogr. 2021 Mar;34(2):182-191. doi: 10.1007/s10548-020-00812-2. Epub 2021 Jan 12.
Adolescent obesity is an increasingly prevalent problem in several societies. Researchers have begun to focus on neurocognitive processes that may help explain how unhealthy food habits form and are maintained. The present study compared attentional bias to food stimuli in a sample of obese (n = 22) and Normal-weight (n = 18) adolescents utilizing an Attention Blink (AB) paradigm while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. We found lower accuracy and Event-Related Potential (ERP) P3 amplitudes during the presentation of food stimuli in AB trials for obese adolescents. These findings suggest an impaired ability of their brains to flexibly relocate attentional resources in the face of food stimuli. The results were corroborated by lower P3s also being associated with higher body mass index (BMI) values and poorer self-reported self-efficacy in controlling food intake. The study is among the few examining neural correlates of attentional control in obese adolescents and suggests automatic attentional bias to food is an important aspect to consider in tackling the obesity crisis.
青少年肥胖是多个社会中日益普遍的问题。研究人员开始关注神经认知过程，这些过程可能有助于解释不健康的饮食习惯是如何形成和维持的。本研究利用注意瞬脱（AB）范式，比较了肥胖青少年（n=22）和正常体重青少年（n=18）对食物刺激的注意力偏向，同时记录了脑电图（EEG）。我们发现，在 AB 试验中呈现食物刺激时，肥胖青少年的准确性较低，事件相关电位（ERP）P3 振幅较低。这些发现表明，他们的大脑在面对食物刺激时灵活重新分配注意力资源的能力受损。较低的 P3 振幅也与更高的身体质量指数（BMI）值和较差的自我报告控制食物摄入的自我效能感相关，这一结果得到了证实。这项研究是为数不多的研究肥胖青少年注意力控制神经相关性的研究之一，它表明对食物的自动注意力偏向是解决肥胖危机时需要考虑的一个重要方面。
