Neural correlates of individual differences related to appetite

Nucleus accumbens response to food cues predicts subsequent snack consumption in women and increased body mass index in those with reduced self-control

“…These data are also consistent with findings in obese individuals, who show increased striatal activation to food cues (Rothemund et al, 2007;Stoeckel et al, 2008) that is predictive of weight gain (Murdaugh et al, 2012), in addition to reduced self-control (Nederkoorn et al, 2006a,b). Our data, however, are not confounded by the potential pathophysiological or adaptive changes in obesity (Berridge, 2009;Gunstad et al, 2008;Lowe et al, 2009;Raji et al, 2010), including changes in our ROIs (Horstmann et al, 2011), and suggest that increased cue reactivity in the NAcc, coupled with reduced self-control, represents a vulnerability mechanism for increased food intake and overweight in healthy subjects. These findings are also potentially consistent with suggestions that overeating and obesity are related to a mismatch between (increased) anticipated, and (decreased) actual (consummatory) food responses in neural reward circuitry (Volkow et al, 2011).…”

“…It is important to note that this study was largely confined to women of healthy weight, as we were interested in examining vulnerability mechanisms for overeating and overweight (Lowe et al, 2009). Therefore, rather than studying obese individuals, we examined predictors of BMI in a representative sample of young women (see 'Participants').…”

The hungry thief: Physiological deprivation and its effects on unethical behavior

“…In classic behavioral research, food deprivation was established as a reliable way of inducing a motivated drive state, increasing the perceived value of food-related rewards (Hull, 1943). More recent developments in behavioral neuroscience have established that this deprivation-induced drive state is mediated by the mesolimbic dopamine reward system (Berridge, 1996;Lowe, Van Steenburgh, Ochner, & Coletta, 2009). Put differently, food deprivation increases activity in the BAS, strengthening goal pursuit by dramatically increasing the salience of actions that lead to food while rendering competing goals less salient.…”

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and the Clinical Management of Obesity

“…This suggests that impulsivity might be instrumental in the observed association between ADHD and binge eating disorder [5•, 35, 36]. Greater impulsivity could also lead to greater difficulty inhibiting the consumption of high energy-dense palatable foods, especially in response to stress and other cues, as described by Lowe et al [37]. Cognitive models of ADHD emphasize the role of inhibitory control as a critical requirement for other executive functions that subserve selfregulation and goal-directed behavior [38].…”