TY - THES ID - 137331179 TI - Fatty Acids: Can They Enhance Executive Functioning? Effects of Intragastric Administration of Fatty Acids on Executive Functioning in Healthy Young Adults: Preliminary Results. AU - Wallaert, Myrthe AU - Miller, Holly AU - Van Diest, Ilse. AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Psychologie en Pedagogische Wetenschappen. Opleiding Master in de psychologie (Leuven) PY - 2016 PB - Leuven KU Leuven. Faculteit Psychologie en Pedagogische Wetenschappen DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137331179 AB - Good executive functioning is related to beneficial outcomes including life success, mental and physical health. Although beneficial, humans are unable to consequently use executive functions to obtain these goals. Therefore it is in our interest to understand which factors promote executive functioning. Earlier research demonstrated that executive functioning can affect the main energy resource of our brain, glucose. Glucose can enhance executive functioning after depletion. Further research found a range of non-invasive methods that could replenish executive functioning after depletion without affecting blood glucose levels. In light of this we propose another mechanism that might positively shape executive functioning, namely increased vagal tone. We studied this via another macro nutrient, fatty acid, and its immediate effect on executive functioning. To our knowledge this is the first study to propose that executive functioning might be enhanced through vagal activation, and it is also the first to investigate the effect of fatty acids on executive functioning via direct infusion in to the stomach. Fatty acids with a chain length equal to 12 or longer have shown to innervate the afferents of the vagus nerve. The consumption or infusion of these fatty acids causes the release of CCK which innervates the vagus nerve thereby increasing the vagal tone. The hypotheses is that the infusion of the fatty acids with a chain length greater than 11 will cause an increase in vagal tone, indexed as HRV, and thereby improve executive functioning compared to control conditions. To evaluate this, a within-subject design with four conditions was set up. In the two control conditions saline or C10 (capric acid) was administered via the esophageal tube. In the two experimental conditions either C12 (lauric acid) or C16 (palmitic acid) was administered. Participants came fasted to the lab where a baseline HRV measure was obtained. After this the esophageal tube was placed and participants watched a video whilst getting used to the tube. Then infusion took place and 10 min later the tube was removed. After infusion subjects completed three executive functioning tasks. First, a dual-processing task comprised of an immediate recall test and a delayed recognition test. The other tests were the trail making test and a forward digit span task. Throughout the whole process mood and satiety questionnaires were completed four times (two pre- and two post-infusion). Once participant finished the tasks and the last questionnaires a post infusion HRV measurement was obtained. Preliminary results of 13 participants did not show a significant effect of condition on executive functioning. Vagal tone increased significantly in the saline and C16 condition. The effects on mood were similar for all nutrients. Valance became more positive, positive affect and the feeling of control increased and negative affect decreased. These changes might be influenced by the placement and removal of the intragastic tube, and also the increased nausea ratings in the C10 condition call for extra caution with the interpretation of the results. ER -