Neural Substrates of Emotional Eating

描述(申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究的主要目的是利用大脑成像技术来研究暴饮暴食的情绪调节模型的关键假设，以检查可能解释情绪性暴饮者暴饮暴食的神经基础。一项初步的功能磁共振研究表明，情绪化进食者在负面情绪状态下比非情绪化进食者(通过前扣带回更大的激活来指示)更想要(渴望)食物，但关于情绪和情绪化进食对食物喜好(快乐者)的影响，这项研究没有一致的发现。在这项拟议的后续研究中，50名情绪化进食量表中得分最高或最低四分位数的女大学生将参与一项旨在评估对食物的渴望和喜好的范式。在这个fMRI范式中，参与者被告知，特定的图片预示着巧克力奶昔或无味的控制解决方案即将交付，但味道并不总是实际交付的，这允许检查大脑对预期和实际收到奶昔的反应。参与者将在消极和中性的情绪(顺序平衡)下完成这项任务，以检验后一种假设，即不同群体之间的愿望和喜好差异更明显。他们还将在适度的卡路里缺乏或食用了一顿标准化的食物(顺序平衡)后完成这项任务，以检验一个假设，即在饱的情况下，不同群体之间想要和喜欢的差异可能会更明显(因为食物剥夺可能会导致想要和喜欢的天花板效应)。公共卫生相关性：了解情绪性进食的神经基础，这是神经性暴食症、暴饮暴食和肥胖的危险因素，可能对病因学模型以及开发针对这些有害问题的更有效的预防和治疗干预措施具有重要意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary aim of the proposed study is to investigate key assumptions of the Affect Regulation Model of binge eating using brain imaging techniques to examine neural substrates that may explain why emotional eaters binge eat. A preliminary fMRI study suggested that emotional eaters experience greater wanting (craving) for food when in a negative mood state than non-emotional eaters (as indexed by greater activation of the anterior cingulate), but the study did not have consistent findings for the effect of mood and emotional eating on liking food (hedonics). In the proposed follow-up study, 50 female college students who score in the top or bottom quartiles of an emotional eating scale will participate in a paradigm designed to assess wanting and liking of food. In this fMRI paradigm, participants are told that particular pictures signal the impending delivery of chocolate milkshake or a tasteless control solution, but the flavors are not always actually delivered, which permits an examination of brain activation in response to anticipated and actual receipt of the milkshake. Participants will complete this task in a negative and neutral mood (order counterbalanced), to test the hypotheses that wanting and liking differences between groups are more pronounced in the latter. They will also complete the task after moderate caloric deprivation or after consumption of a standardized meal (order counterbalanced), to test the hypothesis that differences in wanting and liking between groups may be more pronounced under conditions of satiety (as food deprivation may induce a ceiling effect for wanting and liking). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Understanding the neural basis for emotional eating, a risk factor for bulimia nervosa, binge eating, and obesity, may have important implications for etiologic models, and the development of more effective prevention and treatment interventions for these pernicious problems.