Modulation of cognitive flexibility by hunger and desire

Knowing when to persevere with a plan and knowing when to ditch it and change strategy is highly adaptive and breaks down in several frontal and striatal disorders. Cognitive flexibility is also susceptible to tonic influences of neuromodulators (such as dopamine) and so may be influenced by everyday fluctuations in processes known to depend upon them (such as motivation). The current study employed an attentional shifting paradigm to examine the influence of changes in food-related motivational state in healthy volunteers. Hunger was induced through fasting (physiological manipulation) or through the presentation of appetitive food cues prior to testing (desire manipulation). The desire manipulation produced a stronger effect than fasting by inducing errors when participants were attempting to shift. The results suggest that everyday fluctuations in appetite and desire can produce a significant impact on cognition, highlighting implications for our understanding of excessive motivational control including maladaptive eating behaviour.