The Negative Association of Childhood Obesity to Cognitive Control of Action Monitoring

Overview

Journal Cereb Cortex

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Neurology

Date 2012 Nov 14

PMID 23146965

Citations 52

Authors

Keita Kamijo

Matthew B Pontifex

Naiman A Khan

Lauren B Raine

Mark R Scudder

Eric S Drollette

Ellen M Evans

Darla M Castelli

Charles H Hillman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The global epidemic of childhood obesity has become a major public health concern. Yet, evidence regarding the association between childhood obesity and cognitive health has remained scarce. This study examined the relationship between obesity and cognitive control using neuroelectric and behavioral measures of action monitoring in preadolescent children. Healthy weight and obese children performed compatible and incompatible stimulus-response conditions of a modified flanker task, while task performance and the error-related negativity (ERN) were assessed. Analyses revealed that obese children exhibited a longer reaction time (RT) relative to healthy weight children for the incompatible condition, whereas no such difference was observed for the compatible condition. Further, obese children had smaller ERN amplitude relative to healthy weight children with lower post-error response accuracy. In addition, healthy weight children maintained post-error response accuracy between the compatible and incompatible conditions with decreased ERN amplitude in the incompatible condition, whereas obese children exhibited lower post-error response accuracy for the incompatible relative to the compatible condition with no change in ERN amplitude between the compatibility conditions. These results suggest that childhood obesity is associated with a decreased ability to modulate the cognitive control network, involving the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which supports action monitoring.

Citing Articles

The Impact of Acute Aerobic Exercise on General and Food-Related Inhibitory Function Among Young Adults with Obesity: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study.

Xie C, Huang T, Wang Y, Wang P, Chen Y, Qian J Brain Sci. 2025; 15(1).

PMID: 39851427 PMC: 11763633. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci15010059.

Effects of aerobic exercise on executive function among overweight and obese children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Wang Y, Wang H, Zhao H Front Psychol. 2024; 15:1485610.

PMID: 39529725 PMC: 11551034. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1485610.

Interplay between preclinical indices of obesity and neural signatures of fluid intelligence in youth.

Ward T, Schantell M, Dietz S, Ende G, Rice D, Coutant A Commun Biol. 2024; 7(1):1285.

PMID: 39379610 PMC: 11461743. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06924-w.

Acute high-intensity interval exercise improves food-related cognition in young adults with obesity: An ERP study.

Xie C, Alderman B, Meng F, Chen Y, Chang Y, Wang K Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2023; 24(1):100430.

PMID: 38155877 PMC: 10753058. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100430.

Food stimuli decrease activation in regions of the prefrontal cortex related to executive function: an fNIRS study.

Cheng C, Yang Y Eat Weight Disord. 2023; 28(1):96.

PMID: 37982958 PMC: 10661783. DOI: 10.1007/s40519-023-01623-7.

References

Andrews-Hanna J, Mackiewicz Seghete K, Claus E, Burgess G, Ruzic L, Banich M . Cognitive control in adolescence: neural underpinnings and relation to self-report behaviors. PLoS One. 2011; 6(6):e21598. PMC: 3125248. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021598. View

Davies P, Segalowitz S, Gavin W . Development of response-monitoring ERPs in 7- to 25-year-olds. Dev Neuropsychol. 2004; 25(3):355-76. DOI: 10.1207/s15326942dn2503_6. View

Chatham C, Frank M, Munakata Y . Pupillometric and behavioral markers of a developmental shift in the temporal dynamics of cognitive control. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(14):5529-33. PMC: 2666994. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0810002106. View

Olvet D, Hajcak G . The stability of error-related brain activity with increasing trials. Psychophysiology. 2009; 46(5):957-61. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00848.x. View

Gunstad J, Spitznagel M, Paul R, Cohen R, Kohn M, Luyster F . Body mass index and neuropsychological function in healthy children and adolescents. Appetite. 2007; 50(2-3):246-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2007.07.008. View

Latzman R, Elkovitch N, Young J, Clark L . The contribution of executive functioning to academic achievement among male adolescents. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2009; 32(5):455-62. DOI: 10.1080/13803390903164363. View

Yeung N, Botvinick M, Cohen J . The neural basis of error detection: conflict monitoring and the error-related negativity. Psychol Rev. 2004; 111(4):931-959. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.111.4.939. View

Donnelly J, Greene J, Gibson C, Smith B, Washburn R, Sullivan D . Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC): a randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Prev Med. 2009; 49(4):336-41. PMC: 2766439. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.07.022. View

Scheffers M, Coles M, Bernstein P, Gehring W, Donchin E . Event-related brain potentials and error-related processing: an analysis of incorrect responses to go and no-go stimuli. Psychophysiology. 1996; 33(1):42-53. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1996.tb02107.x. View

10.

Hillman C, Pontifex M, Motl R, OLeary K, Johnson C, Scudder M . From ERPs to academics. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012; 2 Suppl 1:S90-8. PMC: 3295229. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.07.004. View

11.

Falkenstein M, Hohnsbein J, Hoormann J, Blanke L . Effects of crossmodal divided attention on late ERP components. II. Error processing in choice reaction tasks. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1991; 78(6):447-55. DOI: 10.1016/0013-4694(91)90062-9. View

12.

Friedman D, Nessler D, Cycowicz Y, Horton C . Development of and change in cognitive control: a comparison of children, young adults, and older adults. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2009; 9(1):91-102. PMC: 2692196. DOI: 10.3758/CABN.9.1.91. View

13.

Mathewson K, Dywan J, Segalowitz S . Brain bases of error-related ERPs as influenced by age and task. Biol Psychol. 2005; 70(2):88-104. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.12.005. View

14.

Pietrobelli A, Faith M, Allison D, Gallagher D, Chiumello G, Heymsfield S . Body mass index as a measure of adiposity among children and adolescents: a validation study. J Pediatr. 1998; 132(2):204-10. DOI: 10.1016/s0022-3476(98)70433-0. View

15.

Coles M, Scheffers M, Holroyd C . Why is there an ERN/Ne on correct trials? Response representations, stimulus-related components, and the theory of error-processing. Biol Psychol. 2001; 56(3):173-89. DOI: 10.1016/s0301-0511(01)00076-x. View

16.

Birnbaum A, Lytle L, Murray D, Story M, Perry C, Boutelle K . Survey development for assessing correlates of young adolescents' eating. Am J Health Behav. 2002; 26(4):284-95. DOI: 10.5993/ajhb.26.4.5. View

17.

Hollar D, Lombardo M, Lopez-Mitnik G, Hollar T, Almon M, Agatston A . Effective multi-level, multi-sector, school-based obesity prevention programming improves weight, blood pressure, and academic performance, especially among low-income, minority children. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2010; 21(2 Suppl):93-108. DOI: 10.1353/hpu.0.0304. View

18.

Diamond A, Lee K . Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4 to 12 years old. Science. 2011; 333(6045):959-64. PMC: 3159917. DOI: 10.1126/science.1204529. View

19.

Mezzacappa E . Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Dev. 2004; 75(5):1373-86. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00746.x. View

20.

Pontifex M, Raine L, Johnson C, Chaddock L, Voss M, Cohen N . Cardiorespiratory fitness and the flexible modulation of cognitive control in preadolescent children. J Cogn Neurosci. 2010; 23(6):1332-45. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21528. View