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Discrete resting-state functional connectivity patterns predict premorbid eating attitudes in healthy adults

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Bianca Borsarini¹ (bianca.borsarini@unige.ch), Stefania V. Konstantopoulou¹, Emilie Marti¹, Sélim Coll¹, Radek Ptak^1,2; ¹Network Plasticity Modulation (NetPM) Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, ²Division of Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

Introduction: Eating disorders (EDs) and obesity are multifaceted conditions that reflect extremes of over- and under-nutrition and may cause significant life-altering complications. The individual susceptibility to potential development of EDs or obesity is determined by specific eating behaviors and attitudes toward food. Whether this behavioural vulnerability is also associated with specific neural connectivity patterns is unknown. This study aimed to investigate associations between resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) and nonpathological premorbid attitudes toward food in healthy adults. Methods: Forty-eight healthy adults (mean age = 61.79±11.07) underwent structural and functional MRI acquisitions on a 3-Tesla scanner. Eating dimensions were assessed using the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ). The relationship between seed-based connectivity and appetitive traits derived from the AEBQ was examined with general linear model group-level inferences, focusing on brain regions involved in behavioral control and salience processing. Results were age-adjusted and familywise-corrected (p < 0.05 cluster-size threshold). Results: Overeating susceptibility was associated with stronger rs-FC between the right inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior cingulate/precuneus, as well as greater coupling between limbic/peri-limbic areas and reward–salience and prefrontal-control regions. Greater food fussiness was associated with stronger coupling between bilateral superior-frontal and prefrontal regions. Higher undereating vulnerability was associated with enhanced connectivity between right hippocampus and left opercular–insular regions. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that increased rs-FC, specifically between regions involved in executive control, decision making, salience, reward evaluation and self-referential processing, predict premorbid eating attitudes toward food that may increase individual susceptibility to EDs and obesity in healthy adults.

Topic Area: OTHER