Hyperphagia and the associated interest in food is a characteristic feature of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) that emerges during childhood and remains a life-long concern. This study examined neural responses reflecting food cue salience in children with PWS and typical controls, age 3–12 years. Visual event-related potentials were recorded while participants in satiated state passively viewed photographs of high- and low-calorie foods, animals, and neutral objects. Contrary to the prediction, children with PWS did not demonstrate greater than typical neural responses to food, suggesting that it is not an exceptionally motivationally salient stimulus in PWS. Caregiver reports of greater hyperphagia were associated with neural responses to low-calorie foods suggesting accelerated and more fine-grained visual stimulus categorization in terms of edibility and caloric content. Overall, the findings align more closely with the altered satiety rather than increased food reward models of hyperphagia in PWS.

食欲过盛和对食物的相关兴趣是 Prader-Willi 综合征 (PWS) 的一个特征，它在儿童时期出现，并且仍然是终生关注的问题。本研究检查了 3-12 岁 PWS 患儿和典型对照儿童反映食物线索显着性的神经反应。当处于饱腹状态的参与者被动地观看高热量和低热量食物、动物和中性物体的照片时，记录了与视觉事件相关的电位。与预测相反，患有 PWS 的儿童并没有表现出比典型的对食物的神经反应更大，这表明它在 PWS 中并不是一个特别具有动机的显着刺激。更严重的摄食过多的护理人员报告与对低热量食物的神经反应有关，这表明在可食性和热量含量方面加速和更细粒度的视觉刺激分类。总体而言，这些发现更接近于改变的饱腹感，而不是增加的 PWS 中摄食过多的食物奖励模型。