Food cue reward salience does not explain Hyperphagia in adolescents with Prader-Willi syndrome.

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is characterized by hyperphagia, an extreme and persistent hunger that emerges in early childhood. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to objectively investigate brain responses to low- and high-calorie foods, animals, and household objects in 20 satiated adolescents with PWS. Late Positive Potential (LPP) responses to food images did not differ from non-food images. Rather, we observed larger ERPs to high-calorie foods relative to animal images () in an earlier time window. These responses correlated with greater severity of hyperphagia (). Thus, hyperphagia associated with PWS may be due to altered satiety regulation rather than increased motivational salience.