Food cue reward salience does not explain Hyperphagia in adolescents with Prader-Willi syndrome

ABSTRACT

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is characterized by hyperphagia, an extreme and persistent hunger that emerges in early childhood. We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to objectively investigate brain responses to low- and high-calorie foods, animals, and household objects in 20 satiated adolescents with PWS. Late Positive Potential (LPP) responses to food images did not differ from non-food images. Rather, we observed larger ERPs to high-calorie foods relative to animal images (p=.001) in an earlier time window. These responses correlated with greater severity of hyperphagia (p = .01). Thus, hyperphagia associated with PWS may be due to altered satiety regulation rather than increased motivational salience.

KEYWORDS:

• Prader-willi syndrome
• late positive potential
• ERP
• food
• salience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

The Author “Alexandra P. Key” is Currently at Emory University

Data and study materials may be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work supported in part by Levo Therapeutics; The funder had no part in study design or data interpretation.