Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.
Department of Psychology, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, 90747, USA.
Appetite. 2023 Apr 1;183:106478. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.106478. Epub 2023 Feb 4.
The number of older adults in the United States is estimated to nearly double from 52 million to 95 million by 2060. Approximately 80-85% of older adults are diagnosed with a chronic health condition. Many of these chronic health conditions are influenced by diet and physical activity, suggesting improved diet and eating behaviors could improve health-related outcomes. One factor that might improve dietary habits in older adults is food-related inhibitory control. We tested whether food-related inhibitory control, as measured via behavioral data (response time, accuracy) and scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERP; N2 and P3 components), differed between younger and older adults over age 55. Fifty-nine older adults (31 females [52.5%], M = 64, SD = 7.5) and 114 younger adults (82 females [71.9%], M = 20.8) completed two go/no-go tasks, one inhibiting to high-calorie stimuli and one inhibiting to low-calorie stimuli, while electroencephalogram (EEG) data were recorded. Older adults had slower overall response times than younger adults, but this was not specific to either food task. There was not a significant difference in accuracy between younger and older adults, but both groups' accuracy and response times were significantly better during the high-calorie task than the low-calorie task. For both the N2 and P3 ERP components, younger adults had larger no-go ERP amplitudes than older adults, but this effect was not food-specific, reflecting overall generalized lower inhibitory control processing in older adults. P3 amplitude for the younger adults demonstrated a specific food-related effect (greater P3 amplitude for high-calorie no-go than low-calorie no-go) that was not present for older adults. Findings support previous research demonstrating age-related differences in inhibitory control though those differences may not be specific to inhibiting towards food.
据估计,到 2060 年,美国的老年人数量将从 5200 万增加到 9500 万,几乎翻一番。大约 80-85%的老年人被诊断患有慢性健康状况。这些慢性健康状况中有许多受到饮食和身体活动的影响,这表明改善饮食和饮食习惯可以改善与健康相关的结果。可能改善老年人饮食习惯的一个因素是与食物相关的抑制控制。我们测试了与食物相关的抑制控制,通过行为数据(反应时间、准确性)和头皮记录的事件相关电位(ERP;N2 和 P3 成分)来衡量,在 55 岁以上的年轻人和老年人之间是否存在差异。59 名老年人(31 名女性[52.5%],M=64,SD=7.5)和 114 名年轻人(82 名女性[71.9%],M=20.8)完成了两个 Go/No-Go 任务,一个抑制高卡路里刺激,一个抑制低卡路里刺激,同时记录脑电图(EEG)数据。老年人的总体反应时间比年轻人慢,但这并不是针对任何特定的食物任务。年轻人和老年人之间的准确性没有显著差异,但两组的准确性和反应时间在高卡路里任务中都明显优于低卡路里任务。对于 N2 和 P3 ERP 成分,年轻人的 No-Go ERP 振幅大于老年人,但这种效应不是食物特异性的,反映了老年人整体抑制控制处理能力较低。年轻人的 P3 振幅表现出特定的食物相关效应(高卡路里 No-Go 的 P3 振幅大于低卡路里 No-Go),而老年人则没有。这些发现支持了先前的研究,表明抑制控制存在与年龄相关的差异,尽管这些差异可能不是专门针对抑制食物的。