2 This K01 career development award application proposes training and research designed to provide the 3 candidate with the foundation to establish a successful career as an independent investigator with expertise in 4 biobehavioral mechanisms underlying development and progression of obesity across the lifespan. The 5 candidate proposes training to provide new expertise and knowledge in three areas including (1) child and 6 adolescent obesity prevention research; (2) foundations and assessment of diet and obesity; and (3) theory 7 and methods of neuroscience and neuroimaging. Using this training, a research project will be conducted in 8 order to apply training. The current application proposes to use a biobehavioral, multi-method approach 9 integrating neuroimaging and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in a sample of adolescents to study 10 how inhibitory control and contextual factors influence eating and dietary intake behaviors during adolescence, 11 which is a critical transitional developmental period. Limitations of previous research on inhibitory control and 12 obesity includes (1) failure to examine within-person (momentary) associations between inhibitory control and 13 eating and dietary intake behaviors; (2) primarily studying inhibitory control and its effect on eating and dietary 14 intake behaviors in the laboratory; (3) lack of understanding of how neurobiological underpinnings of IC 15 contribute to real-time eating and dietary intake behaviors; (4) failure to study how contextual factors moderate 16 the link between inhibitory control and eating and dietary intake behaviors; and (5) lack of research on 17 adolescence. This proposed approach using neuroimaging and EMA will allow for the elucidation of: brain- 18 based pathways that underlie deficits in inhibitory control, and how these brain-based pathways map onto real- 19 world eating and dietary intake behaviors; how within-person fluctuations in inhibitory control are associated 20 with eating and dietary intake behaviors over the course of the day; and how dynamic contextual factors (e.g., 21 affect, social environment, and availability of highly palatable foods), modify the association between inhibitory 22 control and eating and dietary intake behaviors. This research will launch the candidate?s independent 23 research program focused on elucidating within- and between-person biobehavioral mechanisms underlying 24 the development and progression of obesity across the lifespan, which will be translated to integrated 25 prevention programs that take into account individual difference factors and contextual factors.
/RELEVANCE Obesity is associated with increased risk for chronic diseases and mortality. Diet and eating behaviors are important modifiable behaviors that can reduce obesity and help maintain a healthy weight. The proposed project will study the association between cognition, specifically inhibitory control, and eating and dietary intake behaviors in a sample of adolescents with the goal of elucidating inhibitory control as an important factor related to eating and dietary intake behaviors in adolescents.
