Individual differences in late positive potential amplitude and theta power predict cue-induced eating

Abstract

Both the brain's reward and cognitive control systems are known to regulate cue-induced eating. Although it is established that individual differences in affective processing of food-related cues predict cue-induced eating, we have yet to investigate how both affective and cognitive mechanisms act in tandem to regulate cue-induced eating. In the present study, our goal was to characterize the mechanisms that make some individuals vulnerable to cue-induced eating while leaving others resilient. We recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) from 59 adults while they viewed emotional & food-related images that preceded the delivery of food rewards (candies) or nonfood objects (beads [control]). We measured the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP; a measure of motivational salience) in response to the images and power in the theta (4-8 Hz) frequency band (a measure of cognitive control) after the candy or bead was dispensed to the participant. We found that individuals with larger LPP responses to food cues than to pleasant images (C>P group) ate significantly more during the experiment than did those with larger LPP responses to pleasant images than to food cues (P>C group, p < 0.001). Furthermore, we found that individuals with higher theta power after dispensation of the candy than of the bead (CA>BE) ate significantly more than did those with higher theta power after dispensation of the bead than of the candy (BE>CA, p < 0.001). Finally, we found that the crossed P>C and BE>CA group ate less (p < 0.001) than did the other three groups formed by crossing the LPP and theta group assignments, who exhibited similar eating behavior on average (p = 0.662). These findings demonstrate that motivational salience and cognitive control converge to independently confer vulnerability or resilience to cue-induced behaviors, underscoring the need for individualized treatments to mitigate maladaptive behaviors.