Back
Acta Physiologica 2009; Volume 197, Supplement 672
The 60th National Congress of the Italian Physiological Society
9/23/2009-9/25/2009
Siena, Italy
FRONTAL ATTENTIONAL RESPONSES TO FOOD SIZE ARE ABNORMAL IN OBESE SUBJECTS: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDY
Abstract number: P173
VALENZANO1 A, BABILONI1 C, DEL PERCIO2 C, MARZANO3 N, DE ROSAS1 M, PETITO1 AM, BELLOMO4 A, ROSSI5 G, LECCE6 B, MUNDI6 C, LIZIO7 R, EUSEBI3 F, CIBELLI1 G
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Foggia, Foggia
2IRCCS Fatebenefratelli San Giovanni di Dio, Brescia
3Departiment of Physiology and Pharmacology, University La Sapienza, Roma
4Department of Medical Sciences, University of Foggia, Foggia
5Departiment of General Medicine , Ospedali Riuniti, Foggia
6Departiment of Neuroscience, Ospedali Riuniti, Foggia
7Ospedale San Raffaele Pisana, Roma; (Italy)[email protected]
Aim:
Objective. Are obese subjects characterized by a reduction of attentional cortical responses to the enlargement of food or body images?
Methods:
Electroencephalographic data were recorded in 19 obese and 15 normal-weight adults during an "oddball" paradigm. The subjects were given frequent (70%) and rare (30%) stimuli depicting faces (FACE), food (FOOD), and landscapes (CONTROL), and clicked the mouse after the rare stimuli. These stimuli depicted the same frequent stimuli graphically dilated by 25% along the horizontal axis. Bioelectrical impedance indexed subjects' body fat percentage. Cortical attentional responses were probed by the difference between positive event-related potentials peaking around 400-500 ms post-stimulus for the rare minus frequent stimuli (P300). Low resolution electromagnetic source tomography (LORETA) estimated P300 sources.
Results:
In the FOOD condition, the amplitude of medial prefrontal P300 sources (Brodmann area 9) was lower in the obese than normal-weight subjects, and there was a negative correlation between the body fat percentage and the amplitude of these sources in all subjects as a single group.
Conclusions:
These results disclose that prefrontal attentional processes to food size are
abnormal in obese subjects.
Significance:
The present study motivates future research evaluating the effects of cognitive rehabilitation in obese subjects.
To cite this abstract, please use the following information:
Acta Physiologica 2009; Volume 197, Supplement 672 :P173