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Higher body mass index is associated with episodic memory deficits in young adults.


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Authors

Cheke, Lucy G 
Simons, Jon S 
Clayton, Nicola S 

Abstract

Obesity has become an international health crisis. There is accumulating evidence that excess bodyweight is associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and with a number of cognitive deficits. In particular, research suggests that obesity is associated with hippocampal and frontal lobe dysfunction, which would be predicted to impact memory. However, evidence for such memory impairment is currently limited. We hypothesised that higher body mass index (BMI) would be associated with reduced performance on a test of episodic memory that assesses not only content, but also context and feature integration. A total of 50 participants aged 18-35 years, with BMIs ranging from 18 to 51, were tested on a novel what-where-when style episodic memory test: the "Treasure-Hunt Task". This test requires recollection of object, location, and temporal order information within the same paradigm, as well as testing the ability to integrate these features into a single event recollection. Higher BMI was associated with significantly lower performance on the what-where-when (WWW) memory task and all individual elements: object identification, location memory, and temporal order memory. After controlling for age, sex, and years in education, the effect of BMI on the individual what, where, and when tasks remained, while the WWW dropped below significance. This finding of episodic memory deficits in obesity is of concern given the emerging evidence for a role for episodic cognition in appetite regulation.

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Keywords

Appetite regulation, Episodic memory, Memory, Obesity, What–where–when, Adolescent, Adult, Body Mass Index, Female, Humans, Male, Memory Disorders, Memory, Episodic, Neuropsychological Tests, Young Adult

Journal Title

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1747-0218
1747-0226

Volume Title

69

Publisher

SAGE Publications
Sponsorship
This study was funded by an MRC Centenary Early Career Award. LGC was funded by the Sarah Woodhead Research Fellowship at Girton College Cambridge. JSS was funded by a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, and NSC was funded by an Experimental Psychology Society Mid Career Award.