Why the study?
Do obese individuals show altered brain activation patterns in response to food images?
Do obese individuals show altered brain activation patterns in response to food images?
Obesity is associated with altered brain activation to food cues, characterized by increased reward and memory region activation and decreased cognitive control and interoceptive region activation.
May inform neurobehavioral obesity therapies; leaves open causality and reversibility pending interventional trials.
Prefrontal cortex areas linked to cognitive evaluation processes, such as evaluation of rewarding stimuli, as well as explicit memory regions, appear most consistently activated in response to images of food in those who are obese. Conversely, a reduced activation in brain regions associated with cognitive control and interoceptive awareness of sensations in the body might indicate a weakened control system, combined with hypo-sensitivity to satiety and discomfort signals after eating in those who are prone to overeat.
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Brooks et al. (2013) studied this question.
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