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Does Food-Related Inhibitory Control Differ by Eating Tendencies? Evidence from an Event-Related Potential Study

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Kaylie Carbine¹ (); ¹Brigham Young University

Food-related inhibitory control, or the ability to withhold eating palatable, high-calorie foods, plays a key role in diet and weight regulation. Individuals with poor eating tendencies, particularly restrained (overly limiting intake), emotional (eating in response to emotions), or external (eating when food is present) eaters, often show weaker inhibitory control. Testing neural indices of food-related inhibitory control in these individuals would clarify how cognitive functioning across different eating tendencies contributes to both positive and negative diet-related behaviors. Across four studies, 297 participants (M age = 25.80, SD= 7.46; 65% female) completed a high-calorie go/no-go task while EEG data were recorded. Participants responded with a button press to low-calorie food images (go trials) and withheld responses to high-calorie food images (no-go trials). Inhibitory control was indexed by frontocentral N2 and P3 event-related potentials (ERPs). Restrained, emotional, external, and disinhibition (combined emotional and external) eating tendencies were quantified using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Pearson correlations revealed no significant associations between N2 or P3 difference amplitudes (no-go minus go trial amplitude) and any eating tendencies (ps>.16). Similarly, N2 and P3 difference amplitudes did not differ between successful (high restraint, low disinhibition) and unsuccessful (high restraint, high disinhibition) restrained eaters (ps>.33). Results suggest that neural markers of inhibitory control toward high-calorie foods do not vary by levels of restrained, emotional, external, or disinhibition eating. Future research should test how neural indices of other cognitive mechanisms, such as attention or reward processing, might differ by eating tendencies and the associated impact on diet.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control