Age-related changes in reappraisal of appetitive cravings during adolescence

Abstract

The ability to regulate temptation and manage appetitive cravings is an important aspect of healthy adolescent development, but the neural systems underlying this process are understudied. In the present study, 60 healthy females evenly distributed from 10 to 23years of age used reappraisal to regulate the desire to consume personally-craved and not craved unhealthy foods. Reappraisal elicited activity in common self-regulation regions including the dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal cortex (specifically superior and inferior frontal gyri), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and inferior parietal lobule. Viewing personally-craved foods (versus not craved foods) elicited activity in regions including the ventral striatum, as well as more rostral and ventral anterior cingulate cortex extending into the orbitofrontal cortex. Age positively correlated with regulation-related activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus, and negatively correlated with reactivity-related activity in the right superior and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Age-adjusted BMI negatively correlated with regulation-related activity in the predominantly left lateralized frontal and parietal regions. These results suggest that the age-related changes seen in the reappraisal of negative emotion may not be as pronounced in the reappraisal of food craving. Therefore, reappraisal of food craving in particular may be an effective way to teach teenagers to manage cravings for other temptations encountered in adolescence, including alcohol, drugs, and unhealthy food.

Keywords: Adolescence; Brain; Food craving; Reappraisal; fMRI.

Figure 1

Example Look and Regulate trials from the task.

Figure 2

Self-reported mean desire to consume pictured food in the five conditions: look neutral, look craved, look not craved, regulate craved, regulate not craved. Error bars represent standard error of measurement (SEM).

Figure 3

a) Regulate Craved > Look Craved (p < .005, k = 62), and b) bar graphs illustrating the magnitude of activity in the right IFG by regulation contrast (RC = Regulate Craved; LC = Look Craved; RNC = Regulate Not Craved; LNC = Look Not Craved)

Figure 4

a) The cluster of Regulate Craved > Look Craved activity in right IFG that positively correlates with age (p < .005, k = 20), and b) mean parameter estimates of activity during Regulate Craved > rest and Look Craved > rest, extracted from the right IFG cluster resulting from the Regulate Craved > Look Craved contrast in the whole brain RMANOVA. Gray bars represent averages within age group for Regulate Craved > Look Craved values. Blue dots represent individual datapoints for Regulate Craved > rest. Green dots represent individual datapoints for Look Craved > rest.

Figure 5

a) Look Craved > Look Not Craved (p < .005, k = 20), and b) bar graphs illustrating the magnitude of activity in the VS by reactivity contrast (LC = Look Craved; LNC = Look Not Craved; LN = Look Neutral).