A neural network underlying cognitive strategies related to eating, weight and body image concerns
Author
C. Marques, CristianaSayal, Alexandre
Crisóstomo, Joana
Duarte, João
Castilho, Paula
Goss, Kenneth
Pereira, Ana, T.
Castelo-Branco, Miguel
Affiliation
University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; Siemens Healthineers, Lisbon; Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership TrustPublication date
2024-01-22
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Concerns about food intake, weight and body shape can trigger negatively loaded emotions, which may prompt the use of cognitive strategies to regulate these emotional states. A novel fMRI task was developed to assess the neurobehavioral correlates of cognitive strategies related to eating, weight and body image concerns, such as self-criticism, avoidance, rumination, and self-reassurance. Fourteen healthy females were presented audio sentences referring to these conditions and instructed to repeat these internally while engaging their thoughts with the content of food or body images. Participants were asked to report the elicited emotion and rate their performance. All cognitive strategies recruited a network including the inferior and superior frontal gyri, orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and dorsal striatum. These brain regions are involved in emotional, reward and inhibitory control processing. Representational similarity analysis revealed distinct patterns of neural responses for each cognitive strategy. Additionally, self-report measures showed that self-criticism was positively associated with superior frontal gyrus (SFG) activation. Self-compassion scores were negatively correlated with activations in the insula and right putamen, while self-reassurance scores were negatively associated with activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. These findings identify a neural network underlying cognitive strategies related to eating, weight and body image concerns, where neurobehavioral correlation patterns depend on the cognitive strategy.Citation
Marques CC, Sayal A, Crisóstomo J, Duarte JV, Castilho P, Goss K, Pereira AT, Castelo-Branco M. A neural network underlying cognitive strategies related to eating, weight and body image concerns. Front Hum Neurosci. 2024 Jan 22;17:1274817. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1274817. PMID: 38318273; PMCID: PMC10839062.Type
ArticleAdditional Links
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38318273/PMID
38318273Journal
Frontiers in Human NeurosciencePublisher
Frontiers Mediaae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3389/fnhum.2023.1274817