Obesity, subliminal perception and inhibition: Neuromodulation of the prefrontal cortex

Autor(en)
Sofia Osimo, Sebastian Korb, Marilena Aiello
Abstrakt

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a central role in food choice, and may be partly dysfunctional in obesity - a condition linked to altered attention and inhibition processes, particularly in response to food-related stimuli. We investigated the role of the PFC in subliminal visual processing and response inhibition to food pictures using anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a sample of 53 normal weight, overweight, or obese participants. Subliminal processing was measured with a breaking continuous flash suppression task (bCFS), and inhibition with a Go/No-Go task. BMI was included in the analyses as a continuous predictor. Higher BMI was associated with prolonged subliminal processing for both food and nonfood pictures in the bCFS task, and with longer RTs in food Go trials in the Go/No-Go task. Therefore, higher BMI was associated with an attentional bias for food images during supraliminal, but not subliminal visual processing. Moreover, anodal tDCS resulted in shorter detection times in the bCFS task, especially in participants with higher BMI. We conclude that anodal tDCS affects subliminal perception and attentional processes, and speculate that these effects may explain previous reports of reduced craving and food intake after anodal tDCS.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie, Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden
Externe Organisation(en)
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Université de Lausanne
Journal
Behaviour Research and Therapy
Band
119
Anzahl der Seiten
9
ISSN
0005-7967
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2019.05.005
Publikationsdatum
05-2019
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501010 Klinische Psychologie, 501011 Kognitionspsychologie, 501006 Experimentalpsychologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health, Clinical Psychology
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 – Gesundheit und Wohlergehen
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/dfbc5c36-8981-4a8e-9475-893ba031e271