No evidence for general or food-specific inhibitory control deficits in overweight university students: findings from flanker and Food Go/Nogo tasks

TL;DR

This study found no evidence of impaired inhibitory control in overweight university students compared to normal-weight peers, suggesting cognitive function remains intact during early stages of weight gain.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel cross-sectional approach to distinguish between general and food-specific inhibitory control in overweight individuals.

Findings

No significant differences in inhibitory control were found between overweight and normal-weight participants.

Both groups showed higher inhibition accuracy for high-calorie food images, suggesting a defensive inhibition mechanism.

The findings support a dose-dependent model of cognitive impact in overweight individuals.

Abstract

The transition from normal weight to obesity, defined as being “overweight,” represents a critical window for preventive intervention; however, it remains debated whether cognitive vulnerabilities at this stage manifest as a domain-general decline in executive function or a domain-specific hypersensitivity to food cues.

To address this, the present study employed a cross-sectional design to systematically investigate the behavioral profiles of general and food-specific inhibitory control in overweight university students. Twenty-eight participants (14 overweight and 14 normal-weight) completed the classic Flanker task and a modified Food Go/Nogo task to assess interference control and response inhibition, respectively.

The results revealed no significant differences between the groups in reaction time or accuracy across both tasks, indicating that inhibitory function remains behaviorally intact in overweight individuals. Notably, both groups demonstrated significantly higher inhibition accuracy for high-calorie food images compared to low-calorie ones, suggesting the operation of a “defensive inhibition” mechanism rather than a reward-driven control failure.

These findings support a dose-dependent model of neuropathological impact, implying that the “overweight” stage serves as a prodromal phase where cognitive control is preserved—potentially bolstered by the cognitive reserve characteristic of this educated cohort—thus identifying a crucial opportunity for early lifestyle interventions before the onset of significant impairment.

Figures