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STARTLE RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF FOOD-IMAGE PROCESSING IN PRADER-WILLI SYNDROME
Alex Gabrielli1, Albert B Poje1, Ann Manzardo1
1Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.
The Journal of Rare Disorders
|January 15, 2019
Summary
Individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) exhibit altered emotional processing of food, with heightened food motivation and abnormal startle responses. These findings suggest unique physiological responses impacting eating behavior in PWS.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder characterized by endocrine issues, hyperphagia, and obesity.
- Emotional processing and eating behaviors are key areas of concern in PWS.
- Startle response modulation offers a method to investigate autonomic nervous system activity related to emotional stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate emotional processing of food and eating behavior in PWS using startle response modulation.
- To compare startle reflex modulation between individuals with PWS and healthy controls when viewing various images.
- To assess changes in emotional valence and urge to eat before and after a meal.
Main Methods:
- 13 individuals with PWS and 8 healthy controls viewed neutral, negative, positive, and food images.
- Electromyogram (EMG) measured the acoustic startle eyeblink reflex response.
- Participants rated image emotional valence and urge to eat pre- and post-meal.
Main Results:
- Individuals with PWS reported higher subjective ratings for food images and urge to eat, with no significant post-meal decline.
- Startle responses were lower in PWS compared to controls and attenuated to food images.
- Abnormal emotional modulation of startle responses to non-food images was observed in PWS, contrasting self-reported ratings.
Conclusions:
- Emotional processing, assessed via startle modulation, is abnormal in PWS, potentially due to physiological factors like hypotonia or altered autonomic function.
- Findings suggest disrupted autonomic or sympathetic nervous system functioning impacts hunger and food drive in PWS.
- Startle modulation is a feasible method for assessing food motivation in PWS, with potential parallels to autism spectrum disorder research.
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