Differences in inhibitory control between restrained and unrestrained eaters under non-food conditions: Evidence from...

Although restrained eaters have often been reported to show inhibitory control difficulties in food-related contexts, it remains unclear whether these differences extend to non-food inhibitory-control contexts. The present study examined inhibitory control differences between restrained eaters (RE) and unrestrained eaters (URE) using a Go/No-Go task with non-food stimuli while electroencephalography was recorded in 60 participants (30 per group). Behavioral results revealed no significant group differences in reaction times or error rates. At the neural level, RE exhibited a larger N2 difference wave (No-Go minus Go) than URE, suggesting altered conflict-monitoring processes during inhibitory processing. No reliable group-related effect was observed for the P3 component. Time-frequency analyses further revealed stronger upper alpha synchronization during No-Go relative to Go trials in RE, whereas no such modulation was observed in URE, suggesting altered oscillatory regulation during response withholding. Critically, because the task involved non-food stimuli, these findings suggest that inhibitory-control processing differences in restrained eaters are not necessarily limited to food-related contexts.