Alpha and theta oscillations contribute to attribute regulation in dietary decision making under self-control

How do different cognitive self-regulation strategies alter attribute value construction (AVC) and evidence accumulation (EA)? We recorded EEG during food choices while participants responded naturally or regulated their choices by focusing on healthy eating or decreasing their desire for all food. Using a drift diffusion model (DDM), we predicted the time course of neural signals associated with AVC and EA. Results suggested that suppression of frontal and occipital alpha power matched model-predicted EA signals: it tracked the goal-relevance of tastiness and healthiness attributes, predicted individual differences in successful down-regulation of tastiness, and conformed to the DDM-predicted time course of EA. We also found an earlier rise in frontal and occipital theta power that represented food tastiness more strongly during regulation, and predicted a weaker influence of food tastiness on behaviour. Our findings suggest that different regulatory strategies may commonly recruit theta-mediated control processes to modulate the attribute influence on EA.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.