The Effects Of Negative Affects On Executive Function In Obese Youths

Background: Executive function is an important construct that refers generally to the psychological processes involved in the conscious control of thought and action.Most researchers think that executive function in the broadest sense of the term is mental set shifting,and information updating and monitoring,and inhibition of prepotent responses of three dimensions.The interaction of cognition and affect is an important aspect in psychology.Gable & Harmon-Jones recently mentioned the motivational dimensional model of affect which it suggest that affect high in motivation narrows attentional focus,whereas affect low in motivation broadens attentional focus.Thus,whether is or not the relation between affect and executive function is in accord with the motivational dimensional model of affect.Numerous neuroimaging studies have suggested an association between obesity and deficits in brain regions mediating executive function,and suboptimal functioning of executive function areas such as prefrontal cortex contributes to the progression of obesity.Also,obese youths are more susceptible to emotional interference.The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of low and high motivation negative affects on executive function in obese youths.Methods: Participants viewed a film that showed repairing computer and was designed to make them feel neutral.Next,participants were randomly assigned to view one of two films designed to make them feel negative affect.Low-motivation negative affect was evoked with a film that cut in Roots and Branches.High-motivation negative affect was evoked with a fi lm that showed rotting food and carcass.All film clips lasted 99 s.After viewing the negative affect film,participants completed Stroop task,which assesses executive function.Finally,participants rated how they felt during each film,using a scale ranging from 1(no emotion)to9(strongest feeling).The feelings assessed were amusement,anger,anxiety,contentment,desire,disgust,engagement,fear,happiness,interest,sadness,and serenity.Participants also rated how pleasing 1(very pleasing)to 9(very unpleasing)and arousing 1(exciting)to 9(calm)each was,using the Self-Assessment Manikin.For the analyses,we used the SPSS22.0,E-DataAid and Matlab(R2012a).Conclusions: In the behavioral experiments,low-motivation negative affect and high-motivation negative affect do not have different effects on the executive function of obese youths.In f NIRS study,high-motivation negative affect impairs the efficiency of executive function in Stroop task.