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More restriction, more overeating: conflict monitoring ability is impaired by food-thought suppression among restrained eaters

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Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that restrained eating is not an effective weight loss strategy. Restrained eaters often suppress their desires and thoughts about tasty food, which makes it more difficult to control themselves in subsequent eating behavior. The ego depletion impairs conflict monitoring abilities. Therefore, this study explored the effects of food thoughts suppression on restrained eaters’ conflict monitoring. Therefore, this study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods to explore changes in the activity of brain regions involved in conflict monitoring when restrained eaters choose between high- and low-calorie foods after either suppressing or not suppressing thoughts about food. The results showed that, compared to the control condition, after suppression of such thoughts, restrained eaters chose more high-calorie foods and displayed decreased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex—an important region in charge of conflict monitoring. At the same time, the functional coupling of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus increased. Our findings suggest that restrained eaters’ suppression of thoughts about tasty food could lead to a decline in their ability to monitor conflicts between current behaviors and goals, which in turn leads to unhealthy eating behavior.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (311771237) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1709106).

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  1. Xuemeng Zhang and Shaorui Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2 Tiansheng road, Beibei district, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Xuemeng Zhang, Shaorui Wang, Yong Liu & Hong Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Xuemeng Zhang, Shaorui Wang, Yong Liu & Hong Chen

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  1. Xuemeng Zhang
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Contributions

X. M. Zhang and S. R. Wang developed the study concept. All authors contributed to the study design. Testing and data collection were performed by X. M. Zhang and S. R. Wang. Zhang, Wang and Liu performed the data analysis and interpretation under the supervision of H. Chen. X. M. Zhang and S. R. Wang drafted the manuscript, and H. Chen provided critical revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. X. M. Zhang and S. R. Wang contributed equally to this article and both are responsible for its content.

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Correspondence to Hong Chen.

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This manuscript has not been published or presented elsewhere in part or in entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. All study participants provided informed consent, and the study design was approved by the appropriate ethics review board. None of the authors have a conflict of interest to declare.

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Zhang, X., Wang, S., Liu, Y. et al. More restriction, more overeating: conflict monitoring ability is impaired by food-thought suppression among restrained eaters. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 2069–2080 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00401-8

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