Overweight and obese individuals will be randomly assigned to a food-specific or generic inhibitory control training. Food intake, weight, and neural indices of inhibitory control will be assessed prior, immediately after the 4-week intervention, and 12-weeks after intervention completion to assess the effectiveness of a mobile inhibitory control training intervention over time for health outcomes.
All participants will report to the lab for a baseline session, where their weight, average food intake for three days (using the Automated Self-Administer 24-hour Dietary Recall \[ASA24\] system), neural indices of inhibitory control (as assessed by the N2 event-related potential component during a food and genetic go/no-go task), appetitive drive toward food (as measured by the Power of Food Scale) and basic demographic information will be assessed. Based off their gender and baseline levels of inhibitory control (indicated by the N2), participants will be assigned to a four week food-specific inhibitory control training or a generic inhibitory control training. Trainings are administered on a mobile device via an app and participants select four our of five business days to complete the trainings on. Immediately after the four weeks, participants will come in for a follow-up session where their weight, food intake, N2, and appetitive drive to food will be assessed again. Finally, participants will have a 12-week waiting period where they do not complete the trainings. After the 12 weeks, they will come in for a final lab visit where their weight, food intake, N2, and appetitive drive to food will be assessed one last time.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
105
Computerized go/no-go task where individuals make responses to certain items (go trials) and withhold responses from certain items (no-go trials, in this case, trials surrounded by a black box). Intervention is designed to target and improve inhibitory control cognitive mechanisms in general (generic arm) or towards high-calorie foods specifically (food arm).
Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah, United States
Caloric Intake
Using the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Recall (ASA24), participants will record their food intake for two weekdays and one weekend, two of which will be randomly assigned and one which will be the day they report to their lab visit. Caloric intake, as quantified by ASA24, will be averaged for the three days and statistically analyzed to see if average caloric intake changes over time due to the inhibitory control training arm.
Time frame: Three days will be completed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 12 week follow-up visit (total of 9 recalls)
Weight
Weight will be measured in kilograms using a stadiometer to see if weight changes over the course of the study.
Time frame: Assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 12-week follow-up visit.
N2 Event-Related Potential Component
The N2 is a negative deflection in the event-related potential waveform occurring 200 to 300 ms after the onset of a stimulus and is larger (i.e., more negative) when an individual has to withhold a dominant response. It is a neural reflection of inhibitory control. The investigators will assess if the N2 amplitude gets larger as a result of inhibitory control training (as individuals will be better at recruiting inhibitory control resources). The investigators will also see if the N2 predicts who is successful at losing weight and reducing caloric intake after the intervention, to better understand the mechanism of action for inhibitory control training.
Time frame: Assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 12-week follow-up visit.
No-Go Accuracy
Percent of correct no-go trials during the laboratory go/no-go tasks. The investigators are interested if this improves due to the intervention.
Time frame: Assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 12-week follow-up visit.
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Correct Go Reaction Times
Time in ms to correctly respond to a go trial during the laboratory tasks. The investigators are interested if reaction times get faster due to the intervention.
Time frame: Assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 12-week follow-up visit.