Brain responses to food in children and their parents

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We hypothesize that during the viewing of unhealthy vs. healthy food pictures children will show more activity in areas related to food motivation (striatum, OFC, hippocampus). Likewise, we expect subjects with an unhealthy diet to show more activation than subjects with a healthy diet in these areas. In contrast, during food choice we expect an interaction effect of children vs. adults and unhealthy vs. healthy eaters in areas related to inhibition, such as the anterior cingulate gyrus. Unhealthy eating adults are hypothesized to have less inhibitory control than healthy eating adults, and are therefore expected to show more activation in this area to come to the same result. Children however, are expected to show less activation in this area during inhibition, because the function of the area has not been fully developed yet.

There are two moments of measurement, 3-7 days a part. On the first moment of contact neuropsychological measurements and questionnaires will be obtained, on the second moment the fMRI scan will be made.

Since this is an observational study there are no interventions as a part of the study design. The neural correlates of food choice and food viewing will be examined in two groups of children (healthy weight and overweight) and their same-sexed parent.