Blunted No-Go P3 predicts faster increases in disordered eating symptoms in early adolescents: A four-wave longitudinal study

In Canada, about 1.7 million individuals experience an eating disorder at any given time. Early adolescence is a high-risk period for the onset of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors; without timely intervention, these problems may persist into adulthood and predict a host of negative outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms associated with the development of disordered eating is critical for early risk identification and intervention. One such risk factor is inhibitory control (IC)—the ability to suppress a prepotent response to support goal-directed behavior. However, most research linking IC to eating pathology has been cross-sectional and has relied on self-report or behavioral measures of IC. This study examined to what extent the No-Go P3, an ERP correlate of IC, predicted changes in disordered eating symptoms over a period of two years during early adolescence. A group of 115 healthy early adolescents (66 girls; Mean/SD age at T1 = 10.94/1.18 years) completed an EEG Go/No-Go task at T1 and reported on their eating problems from T1 to T4 over two years. Multilevel growth models demonstrated that youths with a smaller No-Go P3 at T1, which might indicate inefficient recruitment of neural resources underlying IC, showed faster increases in disordered eating symptoms over time. No association was found for commission errors of IC. These findings suggest that neural indices of risks for eating pathology may emerge prior to overt behavioral manifestations during early adolescence, highlighting the utility of neural markers for early risk identification and prevention efforts.