Macronutrient composition of a morning meal and the maintenance of attention throughout the morning

Abstract

Background At present, the impact of macronutrient composition and nutrient intake on sustained attention in adults is unclear, although some prior work suggests that nutritive interventions that engender slow, steady glucose availability support sustained attention after consumption. A separate line of evidence suggests that nutrient consumption may alter electroencephalographic markers of neurophysiological activity, including neural oscillations in the alpha-band (8–14 Hz), which are known to be richly interconnected with the allocation of attention. It is here investigated whether morning ingestion of foodstuffs with differing macronutrient compositions might differentially impact the allocation of sustained attention throughout the day as indexed by both behavior and the deployment of attention-related alpha-band activity. Methods Twenty-four adult participants were recruited into a three-day study with a cross-over design that employed a previously validated sustained attention task (the Spatial CTET). On each experimental day, subjects consumed one of three breakfasts with differing carbohydrate availabilities (oatmeal, cornflakes, and water) and completed blocks of the Spatial CTET throughout the morning while behavioral performance, subjective metrics of hunger/fullness, and electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of alpha oscillatory activity were recorded. Results Although behavior and electrophysiological metrics changed over the course of the day, no differences in their trajectories were observed as a function of breakfast condition. However, subjective metrics of hunger/fullness revealed that caloric interventions (oatmeal and cornflakes) reduced hunger across the experimental day with respect to the non-caloric, volume-matched control (water). Yet, no differences in hunger/fullness were observed between the oatmeal and cornflakes interventions. Conclusion Observation of a relationship between macronutrient intervention and sustained attention (if one exists) will require further standardization of empirical investigations to aid in the synthesis and replicability of results. In addition, continued implementation of neurophysiological markers in this domain is encouraged, as they often produce nuanced insight into cognition even in the absence of overt behavioral changes.

Electrical stimulation of alpha oscillations stabilizes performance on visual attention tasks.

“…Participants performed the visual Continuous Temporal Expectancy Task (vCTET), which was adapted from one previously used by O’Connell et al (2009) and Berry, Li, Lin, and Lustig (2014). It was chosen because of its prior use in sustained attention research (Berry et al, 2014; Wilson, Gray, Van Klinken, Kaczmarczyk, & Foxe, 2017), and because of the finding that errors on this task are preceded by significant increases in EEG alpha power (Dockree et al, 2017; O’Connell et al, 2009). This latter finding indicates a negative association between vCTET performance and alpha activity, motivating our prediction that alpha-tACS would impair performance on this task.…”

Cross-frequency coupling of alpha oscillatory power to the entrainment rhythm of a spatially attended input stream

“…Subjects covertly attend one of two rotating checkerboard streams and report the appearance of duration deviants (targets) that appear as pauses or breaks in the rotation rhythm. We will here describe the task, but the reader is encouraged to review our recent publications for additional descriptions of the task and characterization of associated neurophysiological findings (Gray, Frey et al 2015, Wilson, Gray et al 2018.…”

“…Average hit rates across experimental session were: 66% (Day 1; σ = ±14%); 64% (Day 2; σ = ±17%); and 65% (Day 3; σ = ±17%). For additional behavioral analysis by experimental session, see Wilson, Gray et al (2018; especially Figure 3). As shown in Figure 5, Top Left, average reaction times (in ms) for each condition were: Left (1.5 Hz): 610 (σ = ±90); Left (1.3 Hz): 610 (σ = ±100); Right (1.5 Hz): 630 (σ = ±90); Right (1.3 Hz): 620 (σ = ±90).…”

The Effects of Different Breakfasts on Mood, Satiety, and Cognitive Function among White-collar Workers in China: A Randomized Cross-over Study

“…Some studies of children and adolescents showed that the intake of breakfast with more energy has positive effects on short-term memory [8,9]. Other studies of adults mainly focused on the effects of glycemic index (GI), macronutrients, and micronutrients in breakfast on cognitive function [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. They found that a high GI breakfast is more bene cial for cognitive function compared with a low GI breakfast [10][11][12][13] and a breakfast drink of high carbohydrate or protein may improve coping with mental tasks, including working memory and attention [14][15][16].…”

“…Other studies of adults mainly focused on the effects of glycemic index (GI), macronutrients, and micronutrients in breakfast on cognitive function [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. They found that a high GI breakfast is more bene cial for cognitive function compared with a low GI breakfast [10][11][12][13] and a breakfast drink of high carbohydrate or protein may improve coping with mental tasks, including working memory and attention [14][15][16]. However, several studies showed contradictory results that a low GI breakfast or skipping breakfast is more bene cial for adults' cognitive function [16][17][18].…”