Cue-Reward Learning and Weight Gain in Youth

摘要 在当今的饮食环境中，孩子们很容易暴饮暴食，导致体重增加。然而，并不是所有的孩子 都是肥胖的，这表明人们在感知和与当前 食物环境。关于肥胖的研究表明，超重和肥胖的人，以及那些体重增加的人， 与健康体重的人相比，他们对奖励的敏感度更高，表现为大胆程度的增加 神经区域的反应与奖励、评价和对食物味道的反应有关。自.以来 关系是通过环境线索和进食之间的联想条件作用来学习的，这是可能的 这种人类与食物环境相互作用方式的个体差异可以用不同的 在环境中的食物暗示和食物味道之间的学习速度。因此，另一种假设是 体重增加的人可能更有可能了解环境中线索之间的关系 预测食物(线索-奖励学习)。在这项研究中，我们建议评估奖励敏感度， 提示-奖赏学习，或两者都与肥胖风险儿童和那些没有肥胖风险的儿童有不同的关联 肥胖，并评估这些神经机制是否预测随着时间的推移体重增加。我们建议招聘一名 并扫描66名体重正常的8-10岁肥胖高危儿童(HR：两名超重/肥胖父母) 和66名健康体重年龄匹配的低肥胖风险儿童(LR；两个瘦弱的父母)使用功能磁共振成像 评估对线索-奖励学习范式的大胆反应，该范式将无害的线索与巧克力配对 奶昔和无味的唾液。特别是，我们有兴趣评估奖励敏感度和 杏仁核、脑岛、海马体和纹状体的线索奖赏学习将区分HR和LR 以及这两种机制是否可以预测两年内的体重增加和饮食。我们将实现 这个目标通过以下三个主要目标来实现：1)比较线索-奖赏学习与线索配对的比率 在HR和LR儿童之间，使用巧克力奶昔与搭配无味唾液的提示进行比较，2) 比较HR和LR儿童之间的奖励敏感度，如通过峰值大胆反应测量3)和 评估线索奖赏学习和奖赏对享乐味道的敏感性作为体重增加和进食的预测因子 随着时间的推移，在孩子(HR和LR)中。这个研究项目测试了一个关于暴饮暴食的新假说 和儿童肥胖症的发展，并可以提供关于个人脆弱性的关键数据 为了进一步的研究而暴饮暴食。此外，这项研究可以为以下方面的干预提供机制 提示-奖励儿童的学习，最终防止青少年肥胖。

ABSTRACT It is easy for children to overeat in today's food environment, leading to weight gain. However, not all children are obese, suggesting that there is individual variability in how people perceive and interact with the current food environment. Research on obesity shows that overweight and obese people, and those that gain weight, compared to healthy weight people, have greater reward sensitivity, as demonstrated by increased BOLD response in neural areas associated with reward, evaluation and taste in response to the taste of food. Since relationships are learned through associative conditioning between environmental cues and eating, it is possible that this individual variability in how people interact with the food environment could be explained by different rates of learning between food cues in the environment and tastes of food. Thus, an alternative hypothesis, is that people that gain weight could be more likely to learn the relationships between cues in the environment predicting food (cue-reward learning). In this study, we propose to evaluate whether reward sensitivity, cue-reward learning, or both are differentially associated with children at risk for obesity and those not at risk for obesity, and to evaluate whether these neural mechanisms predict weight gain over time. We propose to recruit and scan 66 healthy weight 8-10 year old children at high-risk for obesity (HR: two overweight/obese parents) and 66 healthy weight age matched children at low-risk for obesity (LR; two lean parents) using functional MRI evaluating BOLD response to a cue-reward learning paradigm which pairs innocuous cues with chocolate milkshake and tasteless saliva. In particular, we are interested in evaluating whether reward sensitivity and cue-reward learning in the amygdala, insula, hippocampus and striatum will differentiate the HR from the LR children, and whether these two mechanisms predict weight gain and eating over two years. We will achieve this goal through the following three primary aims: 1) Compare the rate of cue-reward learning to cues paired with chocolate milkshake compared to cues paired with tasteless saliva between HR and LR children, 2) Compare the reward sensitivity, as measured by peak BOLD response, between HR and LR children 3) To evaluate cue-reward learning and reward sensitivity to hedonic taste as predictors of weight gain and eating over time in the children (HR and LR). This program of research tests a novel hypothesis regarding overeating and the development of obesity in children, and could provide critical data on individual vulnerabilities to overeating for further research. Furthermore, this study could provide mechanisms for intervention with regards to cue-reward learning in children, to ultimately prevent obesity in youth.