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Nutrition and Behavior > Neurocognitive and environmental factors > Flashcards

Neurocognitive and environmental factors Flashcards

1
Q

what is eating behavior?
1. dictionary definition
2. general definition
3. health-oriented definition
4. can also be a what?

A
  1. the way in which someone conduces oneself or behaves + anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation –> as it relates to food
  2. eating behavior is a complex interplay of physiologic, psychological, social and genetic factors that influence meal timing, quantity of food intake, food preference, and food selection
  3. eating behaviour is a broad term that encompasses food choice and motives, feeding practices, dieting and eating related problems such as obesity, eating/feeding disorders. –> focuses on etiology, prevention and treatment + promotion of healthy eating patterns to management medical conditions
  4. a CONSTRUCT! emotional, restrained vs external eating
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2
Q
  • which definition do we use for eating behavior?
  • how does the eating behavior definition explains the role to the brain?
A

general! complex interplay of physiologic, psychological, social and genetic factors that influence meal timing, quantity of food intake, food preference, and food selection
+ dictionary –> anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation:
- explains role of brain: brain receives input, integrates it and produces an output

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3
Q

how is genetics related to obesity?

A

genetics confers risk of obesity through the brain!
because brain influences food choices! and food choices influence obesity!

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4
Q

what are the 3 levels of the brain?

A
  1. homeostatic: physiological hunger –> eating to replenish E stores
  2. reward: cravings
  3. cognitive: higher order
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5
Q

explain the figure (5 steps) of hunger satiation and satiety

A
  1. PHYSIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES –> HUNGER:
    - empty stomach + gastric contractions + absence of nutrients in small intestine + GI hormones
    - endorphins triggered by smell, sight… –> reward level
    - uncomfortable hunger feeling
  2. SENSORY INFLUENCES –> SEEK FOOR AND STRAT MEAL
    - thought, sight, smell, sound, taste of food
  3. COGNITIVE INFLUENCE –> KEEP EATING:
    - presence of others, social stimulation + perception of hunger/awareness of fullness + favorite foods, time of day, abundance of food
  4. POSTINGESTIVE INFLUENCES –> SATIATION: END OF MEAL
    - after food enters the digestive tract
    - food in stomach triggers stretch receptors
    - nutrients in small intestine elicit hormones (CCK)
  5. POSTABSORPTIVE INFLUENCES –> SATIETY: several hours later:
    - after nutrients enter blood
    - nutrients in blood signal the brain (via nerves and hormones) about availability, use, storage
    - as nutrients dwindle, satiety diminishes
    - hunger develops
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6
Q

what is the difference between satiation and satiety?

A
  • satiation: tells you when to stop eating. sensation of immediate fullness
  • satiety: tell you when to start eating again. sensation of long term fullness
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7
Q

which of the 5 steps of hunger, satiation and satiety are related to maladaptive behavior that can cause obesity?
- what are the 4 obesity phenotypes?

A

all 5 can be related to obesity!
1. hungry brain: abnormal satiation –> needs very large portions to feel full
2. hungry gut: abnormal postprandial satiety –> feel super hungry not long after meal
3. hedonic eating: emotional appetite
4. slow burn: abnormal resting energy expenditure
*all 4 can be connected!

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8
Q

physiological regulation
- hunger is primarily determined by (2)
- by which organ?

A
  1. nutrient sensing: how much nutrients you have in body
  2. mechanical tension: stretching of stomach
    - the brain!
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9
Q

LEPTIN
- role?
- produced by what?
- orexigenic or anorexigenic?
- __________ regulation of food intake –> but also increased when?
- acts in what part of brain?

A
  • role: tells you that you have enough fat
  • fat stores (adipocytes)
  • anorexigenic! suppresses appetite! –> makes you feel full –> activates POMC/CART and inhibits AGRP/NPY neurons
  • mostly long-term regulation of food intake but also increased post-prandilly
  • hypothalamus!
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10
Q
  • what is the main structure in brain that influences food intake?
  • role?
  • important part name? –> includes which 2 groups of neurons? are they orexigenic or anorexigenic?
  • project to which nucleus?
A

HYPOTHALAMUS!
- key regulator of food intake
- arcuate nucleus!
1. AGRP/NPY: orexigenic
2. POMC/CART: anorexigenic
- project to paraventricular nucleus

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11
Q

what is the role of ghrelin, insulin, leptin and CCK on the 2 groups of neurons in the arcuate nucleus?

A
  1. Ghrelin –> activates AGRP/NPY = increase food intake
  2. insulin, leptin and CCK
    - activate POMC/CART = decrease food intake
    - inhibit AGRP/NPY = decrease food intake
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12
Q

what happens if you remove leptin receptor in mice?

A

nothing that inhibit food intake
- only ghrelin will have an effect and will increase food intake

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13
Q

GHRELIN:
- produced by what
- orexi or anorexigenic?
- increase or decrease before/after meal?

A
  • by stomach!
  • orexigenic –> increase hunger by acting on the AGRP/NPY neurons
  • increase before meal, gest suppressed after meal –> then increases over time as you get hungrier
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14
Q

INSULIN:
- produced by what?
- role?
- orexi or anorexigenic?
- dual effect of insulin?

A
  • b-cells in pancreas
  • promote uptake of glucose to cells
  • anorexigenic –> produced after meal –> activates POMC/CART neurons and inhibits AGRP/NPY = decrease food intake
  • in mice: inject in brain = decrease food intake BUT inject in blood = increase food intake –> bc in blood, insulin will decrease [blood sugar] (will be absorbed) –> tells brain that you more food = makes you eat more
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15
Q

what is the glucostatic theory of feeding?

A
  • neurons in the brain are sensitive to blood glucose! high blood glu = less hunger VS low blood glu = increased hunger
  • nutrient signaling can tell directly tell brain to eat more/less
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16
Q

which hormones/signals increase food intake? vs decrease?

A

INCREASE: Ghrelin, thyroid, glucocorticoids, gonadol hormones in men
DECREASE: everything else! CCK, PYY, GLP-1, oxyntomodulin, glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide, amylin, leptin, insulin, gonadal hormones in women

17
Q

explain the study of flavor conditioned response in mice

A
  • 2 groups: one group licks strawberry liquid (no cals) which makes another machine inject glu in stomach VS other group licks blueberry liquid (no cals) –> injects water and salt in rat
  • then you give both options to rat –> prefers strawberry bc learned that the glucose liquid has smtg valuable to brain even if they didnt taste it
18
Q

what are 3 components of the reward system?

A
  1. associative learning: need to lear that it leads to a reward (ie lick strawberry)
  2. incentive saliency: motivation, cues in environment motivates you to do it
  3. positively-valanced emotions: pleasurable reward (from dopamine!!)
19
Q

what is cognition?

A
  • mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses
  • study of behavior and neural substrates of human perception, thinking, reasoning, learning, memory and language abilities
  • awareness
  • conscious awareness of things (you know you know something)
20
Q

what are the differences btw lower-level and higher-level cognitive processes?

A
  • lower level: basic sensory perception: seeing, smelling, tasting + awareness of the senses
  • higher level: complex processing: making a decision, setting goals, controlling a desire to eat
21
Q
  • the first taste of food is always with the _____________
  • the _________ of food elicits a wide range of (3) responses
  • what areas of the brain are stimulated?
  • 2 factors need to be taken into account
A
  • the eyes! very powerful to produce expectancy of food
  • SIGHT of food –> physiological, emotional and cognitive responses –> increase or decrease likelihood of eating
  • AREAS OF BRAIN: bilateral posterior fusiform gyrus, left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, left middle insula
    1. regulation of hunger: current level of hunger will influence how you see food
    2. Energy content: eye can detect hamburger vs salad E content
22
Q

what is visual saliency?
- can sometimes have a greater impact on food choices than what?

A
  • property of a visual stimulus that stands out from the surrounding environment –> ie bc of its color or brightness
  • than the participant’s preferences! (study comparing ranking of preference and choosing images –> brightness of images influenced decisions!)
23
Q
  • what is the other sens that has an influence on food choices?
  • explain
A

SOUNDS!
- individuals tend to associate certain types of sound with certain tastes
- beer rated sweeter when listening to “sweet music” and stronger when listening to bitter soundtrack
- sweet vs salty music will increase sweet/salty food items! + increases fixation time

24
Q

what are examples of higher-level cognitive processes? (10)

A
  • planning
  • organization
  • self-control
  • task initiation
  • time management
  • metacognition (thinking about thinking)
  • working memory
  • attention
  • flexibility
  • perseverance
    *requires lots of effort! very complex
25
Q

what are the 3 fundamental executive functions of higher level cognitive processes?
- which one is important in food choices?

A
  1. inhibitory control: ability to control impulses and to override an inappropriate or undesirable action
  2. working memory: ability to hold and manipulate information mentally
  3. cognitive flexibility: ability to switch between tasks and adapt to changing contexts
    *inhibitory control!
26
Q
  • what is a classic cognitive task to measure inhibitory control? explain
  • what is the outcome measure?
A
  • go/no-go task!
  • participants need to respond as quickly as possible to a predetermined type of “go” images (ie office supplies) + withhold their response to predetermined “no-go” images (ie food items)
  • commission errors, when you click when you’re not supposed to –> measure of impulsivity/lack of inhibitory control
27
Q

less inhibitory control is correlated with (4 + extra ish)

A
  • obesity
  • overeating
  • binge-eating
  • hedonic-eating
    + lower dietary restraint subscale (Dutch eating behaviour questionnaire)
28
Q

do we know if lower inhibitory control causes obesity? or obese people develop less inhibitory control? which causes which?
- how to measure?

A
  • we don’t know!
  • do an experiment, follow cohort for 20-40 years and measure inhibitory control every year + track BMI ish
  • meta-analysis showed that inhibitory training can change eating behavior = deficiency could start before obesity but could train people to improve their inhibitory control
29
Q
  • explain difference btw top-down and bottom up visual attention
  • how to measure visual attention? create what?
A

TOP-DOWN:
- conscious effort to find smtg: ie think about oreos and look for oreos in aisle
BOTTOM-UP:
- visual saliency! eyes are attracted to the most salient thing
- unconscious thought

  • using eye tracking! –> create heat maps
30
Q

what is cognitive bias?
- examples (3)

A
  • context in which humans are placed can influence their reasoning and decision
  • ie negative calorie illusion: calorie content of hamburger + salad seems to be less than calorie of hamburger alone…
  • labeling of food: same food could be labelled “light” vs “filling” and people will eat more of the light food vs the filling
  • eco-labeling: people who scored high on questionnaire on attitudes toward sustainable consumer behavior –> preferred taste of the eco-friendly coffee + willing to pay more for it even if it was the same as the normal coffee
    *people want their personality to be validated!
31
Q

name 8 things that are neurocognitive and environmental influences on our food preferences and choices
- what is super important?

A
  • visual characteristics of food items
  • ambient sounds
  • labels/marketing
  • social media (misinformation)
  • presence of others
  • stressful events
  • price
  • religion/culture
    *most importantly, people are often unaware of the impact of these factors on their choices
32
Q
  • what is the cultural brain?
A
  • ie: fMRI study on Chinese adults: Chinese food images elicited stronger activation in regions linked to cravings, taste perception, attention, reward and visual processing VS western food images elicited stronger activation in visual object recognition and visual processing
33
Q

what is acquired taste?

A
  • acquire the taste of something based on environment and cultural practices
  • ie marmite –> explains within-culture preferences but not between culture
  • there are some food components for which we have natural “aversion” –> bitter and spicy but we grow accustomed to them
34
Q

what is the social appetite?

A
  • social context in which food i produced, distributed, consumed and disposed. the social context that shapes our food choices
  • ie foods have social significance/meaning –> cake for birthdays
35
Q

name social/cultural reasons that explain food (8)

A
  • religion
  • indigenous tradition
  • culinary history (ie pineapple on pizza….)
  • mcDonalization (key items taste the same all around the world)
  • food cosmopolitanism/globalization (cultural variability, immigrants)
  • politics
  • marketing and social norms
  • class (social/economic class)

Nutrition and Behavior (4 decks)

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