Electrophysiological correlates of chocolate stimuli in binge disorders and healthy controls

Abstract

Background: Chocolate is a naturally rewarding stimulus, it is perceived as highly problematic with regard to controllability of its intake and appears to be one of the most craved foods. This stimulus has been reported to elicit binge eating in Eating disorders –ED. So far, very little attention has been paid to the role of food odour in the generation of craving and their associated brain functionality. Goals: The aims of the study were to compare event-related potentials of motivated attention towards chocolate stimuli (visual and smell) in binge-disordered patients when compared with healthy participants and their effect on craving. Method: 19 ED patients, diagnosed according to DSM-5 criteria, and 20 healthy controls participated in the study. All were females and performed a chocolate visual-flavours paradigm. The former consisted of 56 neutral and 56 chocolate pictures, presented in random order in a block design. Participants gave subjective ratings of craving before and after each block and electroencephalogram was recorded continuously. Results: Subjective craving towards chocolate stimuli, although increased in ED, did not differ significantly among the groups. However, there was a main effect of category in that neutral pictures with neutral smell led to the lowest craving, chocolate pictures with chocolate smell to the highest. The Late Positive Potential was higher for chocolate stimuli than for neutral stimuli, patients having lower amplitudes than healthy controls. Conclusions: Chocolate might be partially responsible for differential subjective craving effects and differences in brain activity, when comparing ED with binge episodes and healthy controls.