Decision-Making and the Relationship to Food Intake in Kids

The purpose of this 18-month project is to investigate how decision-making influences food
choice and consumption in children ages 7 to 11 years old. Although several studies suggest
that the ability to make good decisions relates to eating behaviors, no studies have looked
at how food reward influences the decision-making process to impact actual food intake. This
proposal will answer these questions and bridge this gap in knowledge, which could lead to
the development of more effective interventions for childhood obesity. To accomplish this,
the investigators have assembled a diverse team with expertise in food intake, nutrition, and
decision sciences. First, the investigators will establish if there are differences in
decision-making between children varying in weight status. Second, the investigators will
determine if performance on behavioral decision-making tasks relates to food consumption in
the laboratory. Third, the investigators will examine response functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response to various rewards (i.e. food and
money) and determine if this is influenced by child weight status. Fourth, the investigators
will examine differences in fMRI BOLD at rest in decision-making regions are correlated with
food intake and weight status. Eighty-two children will participate in our study. The
long-term goal of this project is to investigate if there are differences in brain regions
corresponding to these behaviors in overweight children and if these differences relate to
eating behaviors in this population. Children will undergo fMRI while playing a reward task
as well as consume meals in our laboratory. Decision-making will also be assessed by having
children complete various behavioral measurements of reward and inhibitory control.