Effects of Attention Allocation on Habituation to Food Cues in Normal-Weight and Overweight Children Project Director :

Despite the rising prevalence of pediatric overweight, minimal research has been conducted to understand the basic biological processes underlying overweight in children. The present translational study assesses changes in physiological response (i.e., salivation) to food over time. The primary aims were to examine whether salivation patterns in children vary based on weight status and/or allocating attention to a distracter task. Participants were 30 normal weight and 30 overweight children ages 9-12. All children were presented with nine one-minute trials of a food stimulus (French fries). During each intertrial, participants either listened to sequential one-minute presentations of an audio book (distracter task) or listened to white noise (no-distracter-task control). Rates of salivation were measured using a validated procedure (the Strongin-Hinsie Peck method) and analyzed via repeated measures ANOVA. The rate of change in salivation over trials differed significantly by weight status (p = .04) but not by distracter task condition (p > .10). Specifically, regardless of distracter task condition, normal weight children habituated to food cues while overweight children did not. Results suggest that children’s physiological response to food is related to weight status. Such atypical habituation patterns could potentially lead to overconsumption, thus serving as a possible causal or maintaining factor in childhood overweight. Implications and future directions are discussed. Introduction Over the past two decades, overweight (OW) in youth and obesity in adults has been rising in the United States at an alarming rate (Robinson & Killen, 2002), with current data estimating that 31% of children and adolescents ages 6-12 are classified as OW or at risk for OW (Hedley et al., 2004). There are numerous negative effects associated with OW in youth including medical problems such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and high total cholesterol, as well as psychosocial consequences such as being stigmatized, marginalized, and rejected (Goldfield & Chrisler, 1995; Wilfley et al., in press). Pediatric OW is a known risk factor for the development of eating disorders as well as for adult obesity. Additionally, pediatric OW increases the risk of adult morbidity and mortality independent of adult obesity status (Must et al., 1992). In spite of growing attention to this epidemic problem, little translational research has been done in the area of pediatric OW – that is, research on how basic biological processes underlying OW and obesity inform behavioral approaches to its treatment and prevention. Existing research on the treatment of OW can be supplemented with basic laboratory studies exploring the biological processes that bring about dysregulated eating in OW youth. The proposed research is a translational study on habituation, a basic biological process that influences ingestive behavior in OW youth. Potential implications of the study would include applying knowledge of the habituation process to enhance and refine the eating-regulation component of existing treatment and prevention strategies.