The Effect of Food Deprivation on ERP During Identification of Tachistoscopically Presented Food-Related Words

Abstract

Abstract The present study served to investigate the effects of food deprivation on the identification of subliminally presented food-related words by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). ERPs were recorded in 16 hungry and 16 satiated subjects during repeated tachistoscopic presentation of food-related words (food names) and food-unrelated words (neutral words, sexual words) as controls. ERPs were recorded during each presentation of a word prior to identification and during the first presentation after identification and exhibited N1, P2, and slow-wave components. The number of tachistoscopic presentations until identification was not affected by hunger and satiety. However, ERPs were differentially affected by hunger and satiety: the P2 to food-related words was larger in hungry subjects compared to satiated subjects in all presentations. Additionally, the P2 was also larger to sexual words in hungry subjects in all presentations except the one preceding the identification response. The slow wave was not affected by hunger but increased with progressing stimulus identification. Following the identification of the words, all ERP components markedly declined in amplitude. The results indicate that hunger affects the processing of food and sexual stimuli during identification at an early ERP component (P2) even if the stimuli are not fully identified. In contrast, the later slow wave is sensitive to progressing stimulus identification, irrespective of hunger and stimulus meaning.