When you opt for a salad instead of fries or hit the\ngym instead of the couch, you\u2019re making good use of\na process in your brain called executive control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This cognitive ability matures in childhood, but\npoor development may set people up for a lifetime\nof unhealthy choices, contributing to obesity in\nadolescence and adulthood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nebraska psychologist Timothy Nelson\u2019s research\ninto the link between executive control development and risky health behaviors could lead to novel\ninterventions to prevent and treat obesity, a disease affecting 40% of U.S. adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to make real recommendations about how and when to intervene to change health trajectories on this major public health issue,\u201d said Nelson, associate professor of psychology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He received a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health\u2019s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for this research. The project is conducted through Nebraska\u2019s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Executive control allows people to hold information\nin their mind and use it, shift between different tasks\nand inhibit urges, among other actions. It\u2019s critical to breaking bad habits and finding ways around challenges that hinder reaching goals, such as finding time for physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To better understand its relationship with healthy behaviors, Nelson\u2019s team is taking advantage of a longitudinal study examining executive control that began in 2006 at the university\u2019s Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants, who were in preschool when the study started, periodically take tests measuring their\nexecutive control. For Nelson\u2019s study, researchers\nare also gathering weight and health behavior data, such as food consumption and activity levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To incorporate the environment\u2019s role, such as\nproximity to parks and snack foods, they are\ngeocoding participants\u2019 neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The information will help Nelson develop strategies\nto promote healthy weight by strengthening children\u2019s cognitive development and modifying food environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nelson collaborates with researchers at the University\nof Nebraska Medical Center\u2019s College of Public Health, Boys Town Child and Family Translational Research Center, City University of New York and the University of Texas at San Antonio. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you opt for a salad instead of fries or hit the gym instead of the couch, you\u2019re making good use of a process in your brain called executive control. This cognitive ability matures in childhood, but poor development may set people up for a lifetime of unhealthy choices, contributing to obesity in adolescence and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[138,118,139,141,71,106,136,135,140,134],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-center-for-brain-biology-and-behavior","tag-children-and-families","tag-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience-laboratory","tag-executive-control","tag-health","tag-national-institutes-of-health","tag-obesity","tag-psychology","tag-public-health","tag-timothy-nelson","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}