Testing food‐related inhibitory control to high‐ and low‐calorie food stimuli: Electrophysiological responses to high‐calorie food stimuli predict calorie and carbohydrate intake

Abstract Maintaining a healthy diet has important implications for physical and mental health. One factor that may influence diet and food consumption is inhibitory control—the ability to withhold a dominant response in order to correctly respond to environmental demands. We examined how N2 amplitude, an ERP that reflects inhibitory control processes, differed toward high‐ and low‐calorie food stimuli and related to food intake. A total of 159 participants (81 female; M age = 23.5 years; SD = 7.6) completed two food‐based go/no‐go tasks (one with high‐calorie and one with low‐calorie food pictures as no‐go stimuli) while N2 amplitude was recorded. Participants recorded food intake using the Automated Self‐Administered 24‐hour Dietary Recall system. Inhibiting responses toward high‐calorie stimuli elicited a larger (i.e., more negative) no‐go N2 amplitude; inhibiting responses toward low‐calorie stimuli elicited a smaller no‐go N2 amplitude. Participants were more accurate during the high‐calorie than low‐calorie task, but took longer to respond on go trials toward high‐calorie rather than low‐calorie stimuli. When controlling for age, gender, and BMI, larger high‐calorie N2 difference amplitude predicted lower caloric intake (β = 0.17); low‐calorie N2 difference amplitude was not related to caloric intake (β = −0.03). Exploratory analyses revealed larger high‐calorie N2 difference amplitude predicted carbohydrate intake (β = 0.22), but not protein (β = 0.08) or fat (β = 0.11) intake. Results suggest that withholding responses from high‐calorie foods requires increased recruitment of inhibitory control processes, which may be necessary to regulate food consumption, particularly for foods high in calories and carbohydrates.