Decreased Conflict Control in Overweight Chinese Females: Behavioral and Event-Related Potentials Evidence

The Neural Correlates of Food Preference among Music Kinds

The calorie and taste choices of food have been shown to be related to the external environment, including music. Previous studies have mostly focused on manipulating basic auditory parameters, with few scholars exploring the impact of complex musical parameters on food selection. This study explored the effects of different kinds of music (classical, rock, jazz, and hip-hop) on food liking based on the calories (high and low) and taste (sweet and salty) using event-related potentials (ERPs). Twenty-four participants (8 males, 16 females) were recruited from Southwest University, China to participate in the food liking task using a Likert seven-point rating and simultaneously recording EEG signals (N2, P2, N3, and LPC). This study used repeated-measures analyses of covariances and found that the score of the high-calorie foods was greater than that of the low-calorie foods. Additionally, results revealed that the score in classical music was greatest for sweet foods, while there was no difference among music kinds in the salty foods. The ERP results showed that P2 amplitudes were greater for sweet foods than those for the salty foods. N2 amplitudes for the salty foods were greater than those for the sweet foods during rock music; in addition, N2 amplitudes during hip-hop music were greatest for sweet foods. However, N2 amplitudes during rock music were the greatest for salty foods. The results also revealed that N2 amplitudes during hip-hop music were greater than those during jazz music. This study provides unique operational insights for businesses.

The relationship between music training and cognitive flexibility: an ERP study

Background

Music training involves several cognitive functions in the brain, particularly executive function. Numerous studies have proven a link between the two. Cognitive flexibility is an important component of executive function, however, there has been little study investigating the association between music training and cognitive flexibility.

Method

Music training (N = 22) and the control groups (N = 26) were included in the present study. A tone-related oddball task was used to investigate the tone-related inhibition and the switch task was to investigate cognitive flexibility. During the switch task, EEG data were collected.

Results

The behavioral results of the oddball task showed that the individuals in the music training group had a shorter reaction time and higher accuracy in both the between-tone and within-tone categories compared to the controls. The behavioral results of the switch task showed similar results, with the music training group exhibiting better reaction time and accuracy performance than the controls. ERP results showed that the music training group had smaller P3 amplitudes and greater N2 and N450 amplitudes than the control group.

Discussion

The findings further supported the link between music training and enhanced cognitive function.

The Relationship between Formal Music Training and Conflict Control: An ERP Study

Music training involves manifolds of sensorimotor processes that tie closely with executive functions, including conflict control. Past studies have found consistent evidence in children of the link between music learning and executive functions. However, the same relationship has not been found in adult populations, and conflict control has yet to be studied in a focused manner. Via the Stroop task and event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study examined the association between musical training and conflict control ability among Chinese college students. The findings exhibited that individuals with music training outperformed individuals without music training by demonstrating higher accuracy and faster reaction times on the Stroop task and exhibiting greater N2 and smaller P3 amplitudes compared to the control group. The results support our hypothesis that people who received music training demonstrate advantages in their capacity for conflict control. The findings also provide scope for future research.

High-Calorie Food-Cues Impair Conflict Control: EEG Evidence from a Food-Related Stroop Task

Long-term excessive intake of high-calorie foods might lead to cognitive impairments and overweight or obesity. The current study aimed to examine the effects of high-calorie foods on the behavioral and neurological correlates of food-related conflict control ability. A food-related Stroop task, which asked the participants to respond to the food images and ignore the calorie information, were employed. A total of 61 individuals were recruited and who completed the food-related Stroop task with event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants exhibited a slower reaction time and lower accuracy in high-calorie food stimuli than that in low-calorie food stimuli. The ERP results exhibited a reduction in N2 amplitudes when responding to high-calorie food stimuli compared to when responding to low-calorie food stimuli. In addition, time-frequency analysis revealed that theta power induced by low-calorie food stimuli was significantly greater than that of high-calorie food stimuli. The findings indicated that high-calorie foods impair food-related conflict control. The present study expands on the previous studies of the neural correlates of food cues and provides new insights into the processing and resolving of conflicting information for eating behavior and weight control.

Do Overweight People Have Worse Cognitive Flexibility? Cues-Triggered Food Craving May Have a Greater Impact

Background: Overweight people have been revealed to have poor cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility reflects proactive and reactive control abilities. However, the impairment had not been explicitly positioned at the cognitive stage. Therefore, this study provides increased support for impairment of cognitive flexibility due to overweight. Method: The study included 34 overweight and 35 normal-weight participants. They were required to complete the food and flower target AX-continuous performance test (AX–CPT), including the resting-state fMRI and cue-triggered food craving subscales. We compared the performance difference between the two tasks. Furthermore, we investigated whether the cue-triggered food cravings and the corresponding brain regions mediated the effect of overweight on the two control mechanisms. Result: Significant differences were found only in the food target AX-CPT task, where overweight participants performed worse. Cue-triggered food cravings mediated this relationship. Additionally, we found that the brain regions associated with cue-triggered food cravings (bilateral SFG) can completely mediate the relationship between BMI and the z-value of the fat mass index and sensitivity to proactive control. Conclusion: In the food target task, overweight participants performed worse in both control mechanisms. Moreover, we also revealed the potential mechanism by which being overweight might affect the two control mechanisms through cue-triggered food cravings.

The Neural Markers of Self-Caught and Probe-Caught Mind Wandering: An ERP Study

Mind-wandering (MW) is a common phenomenon, defined as task-unrelated thoughts. This study is based on event-related potentials (ERPs), using modified sustained attention to response task (modified SART, mSART) to discuss the neural patterns of different types of MW. In the current study, we defined the MW realized by participants as self-caught MW, and the MW measurement acquired by probes as probe-caught MW. The behavioral results showed that the reaction times (RTs) during self-caught MW were greater than those during non-self-caught MW. The ERP results showed that during self-caught MW, the mean amplitudes of N1 decreased significantly, indicating that the participants’ attention had deviated from the current task. The increase in the mean amplitudes of P2 during self-caught MW indicated lower vigilance. We also found that the mean amplitudes of N300 reduced during self-caught MW, which indicated that cognitive control or monitoring might be affected by self-caught MW. The average amplitudes of P300 were significantly lower during probe-caught MW than during on-task, indicating the impact on high-level cognitive processing. In addition, the amplitudes of N1, P2, and N300 in anterior regions were greater than those in posterior regions. P300 amplitudes during probe-caught MW in the right hemisphere were greater than those of the left hemisphere. In summary, our research results demonstrated that alertness and cognitive processing decreased during both self-caught MW and probe-caught MW. ERPs were statistically different under the conditions of self-caught MW and probe-caught MW. The current study provided new insights into the relationship between MW and neural markers. It was the first study exploring the ERP correlates between self-caught MW and probe-caught MW based on mSART.

Regulation of Mindfulness-Based Music Listening on Negative Emotions Related to COVID-19: An ERP Study

The current study aimed to explore the behavioral and neural correlates of mindfulness-based music listening regulation of induced negative emotions related to COVID-19 using the face-word Stroop task. Eighty-five young adults visited the laboratory and were randomly assigned to three groups: a calm music group (CMG: n = 28), a happy music group (HMG: n = 30), and a sad music group (SMG: n = 27). Negative emotions were induced in all participants using a COVID-19 video, followed by the music intervention condition. Participants underwent the face-word Stroop tasks during which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The N2, N3, P3, and late positive component (LPC) were investigated. The results showed that calm music and happy music effectively regulate young adults' induced negative emotions, while young adults experienced more negative emotions when listening to sad music; the negative mood states at the post-induction phase inhibited the reaction of conflict control in face-word Stroop tasks, which manifested as lower accuracy (ACC) and slower reaction times (RTs). ERP results showed negative mood states elicited greater N2, N3, and LPC amplitudes and smaller P3 amplitudes. Further studies are needed to develop intervention strategies to enhance emotion regulation related to COVID-19 for other groups.

Overweight adults are more impulsive than normal weight adults: Evidence from ERPs during a chocolate-related delayed discounting task

Overweight or obesity can be accompanied by abnormalities in executive function and related neural markers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the behavioral and neural correlates of food-related decision-making in overweight and normal-weight adults. We used a delayed discounting task (DDT), which requires participants to choose between smaller immediate rewards and larger delayed rewards. In total, 24 overweight adults and 24 normal-weight adults participated; all participants engaged with a food-related DDT, and their responses were measured using event-related potentials (ERPs). In the current study, we take the area under the curve (AUC), number of smaller immediate rewards, and reaction times (RTs) as behavioral indicators of DDT. AUC is an individual's discounting rate, with smaller AUC reflecting more impulsive decision-making. Number of smaller immediate rewards also reflects impulsivity. For ERPs, N2, reward-related positivity, P3, and late positive component (LPC) were investigated. Behavioral results showed smaller AUC, more choice of smaller immediate rewards, and longer RTs in overweight adults than in normal-weight adults. Neural markers showed that overweight adults elicited greater N2 in larger delayed rewards than in smaller immediate rewards and also elicited greater reward-related positivity than normal-weight adults. Moreover, the P3 and LPC mean amplitudes of overweight adults were greater than those of normal-weight adults. Pearson correlation analysis showed that body mass index (BMI) was positively related to P3 and LPC, while AUC was negatively related to P3. The findings thus suggest that overweight adults are more impulsive than normal-weight adults. Moreover, overweight adults might experience more cognitive conflict before their reaction, and they might allocate more cognitive resources to food-related stimuli and might have higher-order cognitive processes more involved in motivation or emotion regarding food-related stimuli. This is the first study investigating ERP correlates of food-related decision-making in overweight adults, and it enriches the theoretical models by providing neural markers for future study.