Human cognitive function and the obesogenic environment

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating which suggests that, in addition to leading to unprecedented rates of obesity, the current food environment is contributing to the development of cognitive impairment and dementia. Recent experimental research indicates that many of the cognitive deficits associated with obesity involve fundamental inhibitory processes that have important roles in the control of food intake, implicating these cognitive impairments as a risk factor for weight gain. Here, we review experiments that link obesity with deficits in memory, attentional, and behavioral control and contemplate how these deficits may predispose individuals to overeat. Specifically, we discuss how deficits in inhibitory control may reduce one’s ability to resist eating when confronted with the variety of foods and food cues that are ubiquitous in today’s environment. Special attention is given to the importance of memory inhibition to the control of eating and appetitive behavior, and the role of the hippocampus in this process. We also discuss the potential etiology of both obesity and obesity-related cognitive impairment, highlighting non-human animal research which links both of these effects to the consumption of the modern “Western” diet that is high in saturated fats and simple carbohydrates. We conclude that part of what makes the current food environment “obesogenic” is the increased presence of food cues and the increased consumption of a diet which compromises our ability to resist those cues. A multi-dimensional intervention which focuses on improving control over food-related cognitive processing may be useful not only for combating the obesity epidemic but also for minimizing the risk of serious cognitive disorder later in life.

Manipulations of attention during eating and their effects on later snack intake

“…Furthermore, inducing a false memory of what has been eaten has been found to influence appetite in the intermeal interval (Brunstrom et al, 2012). In line with the view that an important function of memory is to be able to more reliably predict the future by utilising past experience, these results suggest that memories formed during eating are factored into future decisions about when and how much to eat, probably because they allow for efficient prediction about whether consumption of food is likely to be rewarding (Martin & Davidson, 2014).…”

“…It is increasingly being recognised that memory for recent eating plays an important role in appetite (Brunstrom, 2014;Higgs, 2002;Higgs, Robinson, & Lee, 2012;Martin & Davidson, 2014). Indeed, the flexibility of human eating behaviour may be underpinned by our ability to use information about past eating events to inform future eating behaviour.…”

The anterior medial temporal lobes: Their role in food intake and body weight regulation

“…It is worth noting that similar topics have been the object of several recent reviews (e.g., [5,56,78,98,109,117,139]). They include descriptions of studies linking food intake regulation to the amygdala [5] and the hippocampus Kanoski & Grill [78]; [117]) as well as studies showing the influence of memory on food reward processing [56] and obesity [98], and the impact of other factors such as environment and stress on obesity [109,139].…”

“…They include descriptions of studies linking food intake regulation to the amygdala [5] and the hippocampus Kanoski & Grill [78]; [117]) as well as studies showing the influence of memory on food reward processing [56] and obesity [98], and the impact of other factors such as environment and stress on obesity [109,139]. However, rather than reiterating the material covered by these scholarly works, the present review aims to integrate the literature on the functions of both the amygdala and the hippocampus in food intake and body weight regulation in two unique ways.…”

“…The reciprocal links between hippocampal functioning, food intake, and body weight regulation have notably been investigated by Davidson and colleagues (e.g., [28,29,77,98,139]), who focused on the role of the hippocampus in inhibitory learning and memory. Kanoski & Davidson [77] highlighted how body weight regulation depends on the ability to solve a so-called "serial feature negative discrimination problem", in which "interoceptive satiety cues (X) signal that environmental food-related target cues (A) will not be followed by an appetitive postingestive outcome" (p. 66).…”