The effect of hunger state on hypothalamic functional connectivity in response to food cues

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank Lisette Charbonnier for her relentless efforts in setting up the study at all three sites and collecting the Dutch data. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. FUNDING INFORMATION This work was financially supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 266408 (Full4Health, www.full4health.eu). Furthermore, the study was supported in parts by a grant (01GI0925) from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Link between Impulsivity and Overeating: Psychological and Neurobiological Perspectives

In most basic terms impulsivity is defined as a tendency to act without control. Impulsivity has been implicated in the onset, symptomatic expression, and maintenance of overeating. Specifically, high impulsivity and associated poor inhibitory control, along with sensation seeking and reward sensitivity, as well as negative affect have been found to have an interaction effect on emotional eating, which may lead to binge eating and obesity. Moreover, associations between overeating and impulsive behaviors such as difficulty in response inhibition, planning, attention, addiction, or risk taking etc. have been previously shown. The purpose of this review is to summarize the evidence from psychology regarding the potential role of the impulsivity trait in overeating, with implications on the treatments for obesity and binge eating

Neural Characteristics of Affectionate Communicators: Trait Affection and Asymmetry in the Prefrontal Cortex

Individual differences in thresholds for affectionate communication should be reflected by differences in neurological structure and function. A theoretical schema from several overlapping literatures including evolutionary psychology, social neuroscience, fundamental personality, and communication are examined to make the case that high-affection communicators have greater relative electrical activity in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) versus the right PFC reflected in asymmetrical baseline EEG recordings. Participants (N=16) reported trait-affection levels using Floyd?s (2002) TAS-G, which measures an individual?s threshold for expressing affection. Participants? baseline electrical activity was then recorded. Asymmetry was operationalized as the difference between microvolt (μV) values of laterally opposed electrode clusters thought to measure PFC activity. Correlations and a discriminant analysis are consistent with the hypothesis that high-affection communicators have greater relative left PFC activity than less affectionate communicators. Using this sample, data indicate that sex also covaries with asymmetrical processing. Possibilities for further investigation and weaknesses of the current study are discussed in detail

Effects of gut hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 and desacyl ghrelin, on eating behaviour in obesity and ex-smokers

Introduction: Unhealthy eating behaviour is more prevalent in obesity and contributes to weight regain after dieting. Smoking cessation weight gain, a common reason for relapse to cigarettes, also has adverse health consequences. Gut hormones, such as GLP-1 and desacyl ghrelin (DAG), reduce appetite and weight in obesity and Prader-Willi syndrome. GLP-1 and ghrelin signalling systems modulate central reward networks for food and nicotine in preclinical and human studies. However, the impact of GLP-1 and DAG on neurocircuitry involved in eating behaviour in obesity and ex-smokers remains unclear therefore further insight is needed to guide clinical use of gut hormones in prevention of weight gain during dieting and smoking cessation. Aims: Here, the effects of acute administration of GLP-1 analogue, Exenatide or DAG was explored in dieting adults with obesity, or in abstinent nicotine-dependence (double blind randomised placebo controlled cross-over design), on food cue responsivity using fMRI in reward-processing regions, food intake, food reward and appetite. Results: In dieting group with obesity, both Exenatide and DAG increased BOLD signal to high-energy (HE) food pictures in prefrontal cortex regions, implicated in inhibitory control. In contrast, in ex-smokers, both Exenatide and DAG decreased BOLD signal to HE food pictures in the mesolimbic reward-processing regions and prefrontal cortex, suggesting a reduction in anticipatory food reward with a concomitant decrease in executive control. With Exenatide, there was also a reduction in HE food appeal, food intake and appetite ratings in both groups. With DAG, there was no overall effect on HE food appeal, food intake or appetite ratings in both groups. Conclusion: These findings are in accord with the possibility that Exenatide and DAG could be used in prevention of smoking cessation weight gain. This experimental medicine study has provided pilot data for a larger clinical study to trial these gut hormones as potential therapies in smoking cessation.Open Acces

Behavioral and neural bases of emotion regulation in childhood and adolescence

While much research has suggested that emotional experiences change dramatically over the lifespan, less is known about what underlies these changes at a mechanistic level. Specifically, it is unclear whether age predicts differences in bottom-up reactivity to emotional events, or in the ability to exert top-down control over emotional responses. The present studies sought to address these gaps in the literature. Studies 1 and 2 compared the behavioral and neural correlates, respectively, of emotional reactivity to and regulation of emotional responses to social and non-social aversive stimuli in individuals aged 10-22. Study 1 additionally examined the interaction between individual differences in sensitivity to social rejection and age and how this impacts regulation of emotional responses to social stimuli. Across these studies, age predicted differences in neural and behavioral correlates of regulation but not reactivity. Study 3 broadened the sample age range to include children as young as 6 years and obtained results that were generally consistent with those of Studies 1-2. Study 4 examined the generalizability of the findings from Studies 1-3 by examining reactivity and regulation of appetitive, rather than aversive, responses in participants ranging from 6-22 years. Behavioral indices of reactivity and regulation correlated with age in Study 4, but neural effects of age were only found for regulation. Data from Study 4 additionally suggested links between the neural correlates of regulation of craving and body mass index

EXCESO DE PESO EN ADOLESCENTES: INFLUENCIA DEL ESTRÉS SOCIAL EN EL RENDIMIENTO NEUROPSICOLÓGICO Y EFECTO DE LA VISUALIZACIÓN DE IMÁGENES DE ALIMENTOS EN LA ACTIVACIÓN CEREBRAL Y TOMA DE RIESGOS

Los objetivos fueron: 1) estudiar la influencia del estrés social sobre el rendimiento neuropsicológico, en adolescentes con exceso de peso y con normopeso, 2) analizar la influencia de la visualización de alimentos en una tarea de toma de decisiones de riesgo y su relación con la impulsividad, en adolescentes con exceso de peso comparados con adolescentes con normopeso, y 3) analizar el procesamiento cerebral durante una tarea de elección alimenticia y su relación con el craving subjetivo, en adolescentes con exceso de peso y con normopeso. Los resultados mostraron que los adolescentes con exceso de peso: 1) muestran un peor rendimiento atencional y ejecutivo tras el estrés social, 2) toman decisiones más arriesgadas tras la visualización de señales de alimentos y presentan mayores niveles de impulsividad, y 3) activan más las áreas cerebrales del circuito de la recompensa y presentan una asociación entre esta activación y el craving.The objectives were: 1) study the influence of social stress on neuropsychological performance, in adolescents with excess weight and adolescents with normal weight, 2) analyse the influence of food visualization in a risky decision making task and its relationship with impulsivity, in adolescents with excess weight compared with adolescents with normal weight, and 3) analyse brain processing during a food-choice task and its associations with subjective craving, in adolescents with excess weight and adolescents with normal weight. The results showed that: 1) adolescents with excess weight show worse attentional and executive performance after social stress, 2) adolescents with excess weight take more risky decisions after food cues visualization and they have higher impulsivity levels, and 3) adolescents with excess weight show greater activation in the brain areas of the reward circuit and they present an association between this activation and craving.Tesis Univ. Jaén. Departamento de Psicología. Leída el 1 de octubre de 2018

Neurobiological responses to images of food and psycho-behavioral correlates in obese binge eaters: a functional MRI study

Obesity is on the rise, and its associated comorbidities and health care costs are tremendous. A contributing factor to chronic obesity is binge eating disorder (BED), which is prevalent in 20 to 30 percent of the morbidly obese population, but the distinction between obesity versus obesity with BED is still unclear. The present dissertation project investigated forty two adult men and women, thirteen obese + BED and twenty nine obese controls for multiple psycho-behavioral constructs (rigid dietary restraint, disinhibition, anxiety, and behavioral activation/behavioral inhibition). On a different day, following a 12-hour fast, the participants consumed a fixed liquid meal, and their brain function examined while images of high energy food (e.g. pizza and cakes), low energy food (e.g. cucumber and tomato) and control items (i.e. office supplies) presented to them on a screen. Using a whole brain analysis approach, functional brain activity in response to: 1/food versus nonfood, and 2/high energy food versus low energy food revealed eight brain areas significantly different between the groups: for 'food versus nonfood', activated were seven areas functionally involved in the integration of somatosensory experience with internal state, processing of sensations, cognitions, thoughts, and emotions, integration of sensory functions and memory, visual object recognition and motion, visual - somatosensory functions and associations, integration of emotional value with a sensory stimulus, mediation of motivation and expectancy for outcomes, and the integration of diverse sensory information and visuo-spatial cognition. . One area significantly differed between the groups in response to the comparison of 'high energy food versus low energy food'. This area is functionally involved in thought, cognition, movement, planning, and motor behaviors in response to emotions and drives Thus, in response to cues representing binge-triggers, obese + BED showed greater visual attention, emotional, motivational and reward processing, as well as motor planning of future actions and heightened somatosensory experience, compared with the obese group. Scores on the 'disinhibition' scale were significantly higher in the obese + BED group compared with the obese. Correlation between 'disinhibition' scores and brain activation results in each group showed significant differences between the groups in two brain areas: right anterior cingulate gyrus-Brodmann area #32, and the left postcentral gyrus. Scores on the Behavioral Activation Scale (reward drive) were significantly lower in the obese + BED group, but the correlations between brain activation and scores on this scale did not differ between the groups. To sum the results altogether, the obese + BED may be marked by hyperactive visual-attentional-emotional- and cognitive processing of cues representing binge-triggers, with heightened somatosensory response. The psycho-behavioral construct of 'disinhibition' highly characterizes BED, and its neurobiological substrates may include the right anterior cingulate cortex-Brodmann area #32 and left postcentral gyrus. Reduced reward responsiveness in obese + BED may reflect weak 'liking' response to food, but this behavioral construct and its' relationship to BED are still inconclusive. Future studies may use the results of this dissertation project to further investigate frequent binge eating in the absence of compensatory behaviors in the obese population

The associations between sugar sweetened beverage intake, satiety, and metabolic health in minority youth

Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Hispanic children are at an increased risk of obesity and metabolic disease in the United States. Increasingly obesity is viewed as a multifaceted phenotype, beyond simply excess body weight. Research indicates that homeostatic mechanisms as well as hedonic systems are altered in obese individuals. The objective of this study was to examine how sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) intake, a highly modifiable dietary behavior, impacts both metabolic health and hedonic perceptions. This study is made up of three cross sectional analyses: the first two are secondary analyses of data from the University of Southern California, and the third was preformed at the University of Texas at Austin. The first examined the relationship between SSB intake, perceived hunger and satiety, and endocrine biomarkers in overweight and obese NHB and Hispanic adolescents (14-17 y). SSB intake of two servings or more per day was associated with decreased satiety and suppressed ghrelin compared to subjects that consumed one or less servings of SSB. The second examined the association between SSB intake, visceral fat accumulation (VAT), and cortisol awakening response (CAR) in a similar sample of 60 overweight and obese NHB and Hispanic adolescents (14-17y). SSB intake of two servings or more was associated with increased VAT and increased CAR compared to subjects that consumed one or less servings of SSB. The third examined the effect of SSB intake on reward pathways in the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as how free-living dietary and dietary intake at an ad libitum meal impacts hunger and metabolic biomarkers in 41 overweight and obese Hispanic children (7-10 y). Although analysis of the fMRI data was uninterruptable, increased hunger and decreased satiety at an ad libitum meal was related to added sugar intake greater than 10% of the subject’s daily calories. In adolescents, SSB intake is associated with decreased feelings of fullness and an unfavorable metabolic profile. In young children, added sugar intake is associated with appetite independent of homeostatic factors.Nutritional Science

Acute Exercise and Creativity: Embodied Cognition Approaches

This dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativityThis dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativit