The final and most intriguing result was the association with CNVamplitude recorded while patients estimated the passage of a 2-s interval. As predicted, obese patients, in comparison to their non-obese peers, emitted large (more negative) cortical readiness potentials well before the termination of the interval (Figure 1) and also emitted their behavioral responses prematurely. In simple terms, obese patients were impatient. Including CNV amplitude as an indicator of impatience within the model added value to the model: It improved the variance explained in obesity from 12% (Model 2) to 18% (Model 3), a 50% increase. As shown in Figure 2, impatience also appeared to be a pathway through which mood dysregulation promoted obesity, because in the absence of this intervening step (Model 2), mood dysregulation did not predict it (β = .14, p = .38).
