Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381310
Research Project: Impact of Maternal Influence and Early Dietary Factors on Child Growth, Development, and Metabolic Health

Location: Location not imported yet.

Title: Effect of obesity on inhibitory control in preadolescents during stop-signal task. An event-related potentials study

Author
item ALATORRE-CRUZ, GRACIELA - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item DOWNS, HEATHER - Arkansas Children'S Nutrition Research Center (ACNC)
item HAGOOD, DARCY - Arkansas Children'S Nutrition Research Center (ACNC)
item SORENSON, SETH - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item LARSON-PRIOR, LINDA - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/11/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Preadolescence is a period in which structural and functional changes occur in the frontal lobes that relate to the development of executive control functions, particularly in process such as attention and cognitive inhibition. Obesity has been associated with dysfunctions in inhibitory control due to structural-volumetric brain decreases. Therefore, obese preteens should show less efficient inhibitory control than their same-age peers with normal weight. To test this hypothesis, event-related potentials (ERPs) were collected during a stop-signal task and compared between 32 non-obese preteens (mean body mass index, BMI = 17.24; 9.61 years old) and 30 obese preteens (mean BMI = 25.4; 9.62 years old). Although no significant differences between groups were observed in behavioral responses, BMI correlated positively with behavioral task accuracy and response times only for the non-obese group. As for ERPs, the obese group had an electrophysiological pattern associated with a greater cognitive effort in cognitive inhibition (greater amplitude in P300a component). An unexpected result was the difference in attention process between groups, which was characterized by a delay in monitoring (longer N200 latency), difficulties in attentional allocation (longer latency and greater amplitude in P300a component), and greater effort required to maintain trial responses from previous trials in working memory (greater P300b amplitude). We conclude that in obese preadolescents, greater amplitude of P300a and P300b components might reflect a compensatory mechanism that allows them to maintain response accuracy at levels equal to non-obese participants, evidencing differences between groups in the development of attention and inhibitory control.