NEURO-COGNITIVE SELF-REGULATION MECHANISMS AND THEIR RELATION TOOBESITY

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Meeting benchmarks of successful weight management intervention requires that individuals make difficult choices, often involving challenging and sustained efforts of self-control. The proposed research will investigate whether individuals struggling with weight management exhibit characteristic neuro-cognitive indices related to attentional- and self-control and  because intervention often involves effortful implementation of sustained lifestyle changes  whether such indices might additionally predict intervention outcomes within a population of such individuals. The following are among the questions to be tested: (1) Do individuals struggling with weight management exhibit marked impulsiveness or difficulties involving attention shifting, working memory, and the inhibition of otherwise reflexive behaviors? Do such indices correlate with objective measures such as BMI and efficacy of intervention over the course of treatment? (2) Are weight management problems accompanied by exaggerated affectively-driven neural responses to food cues and/or by a relative inability to regulate such responses? (3) Do common food cues, such as appetitive aromas generally negatively impact cognitive control functions? These issues will be investigated through the use of objective and proven neuro-physiological and behavioral methods. It is anticipated that data obtained in the initial stages of investigation will set the stage for future funding and research, as well as for building further bridges between the University of Delaware, the A.I duPont Hospital for Children, and INBRE core centers at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. Furthermore, this project will provide a unique training opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students wishing to work at the interface between clinical and neuro-cognitive research.