Date of Award

2020-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

Advisor(s)

Osvaldo F. Morera

Abstract

Obesity is a global health crisis associated with increased arterial stiffness, diminished brain reactivity, and diminished executive functioning. Inhibitory control, a specific domain of executive functioning, is known to be especially important to behaviors influencing health. The current study aimed to determine if increased adiposity and arterial stiffness were associated with performance and brain activation for two inhibitory control subtypes, response restraint, and response cancellation. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, the Cued Go/No-go Task, the Stop Signal Task, and functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) were used to investigate these relationships. Pearson correlations indicated that slower stop-signal reaction time was associated with a greater waist-to-hip ratio (r = .469) and a greater pulse wave velocity (r = .400). fNIRS monitoring during the Cued Go/No-go task revealed that a lower mean level of oxyhemoglobin in the left prefrontal cortex was associated with greater hip-to-waist ratio (r = -.348) and pulse wave velocity (r = -.372). fNIRS monitoring during the Stop Signal task also revealed that a lower mean level of oxyhemoglobin in the right prefrontal cortex was associated with greater body mass index (r = -.308) and body fat percentage (r = -.288). Hierarchical regression revealed that pulse wave velocity added a significant explanation of stop-signal reaction times, above and beyond the variance explained by age, socioeconomic status, and body fat percentage (Î?R2= .09). Our results further support that adiposity and arterial stiffness are related to brain hemodynamic response and particular inhibitory control abilities and add that this relationship may be present in a younger adult population.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

84 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

John William Capps

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