Rolls Edmund T, Kellerhals Michele B, Nichols Thomas E
Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, UK.
Research & Development, Coca-Cola Services, Brussels, Belgium.
Neuroimage. 2015 Jun;113:298-309. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.03.065. Epub 2015 Apr 2.
There is strong evidence demonstrating age-related differences in the acceptability of foods and beverages. To examine the neural foundations underlying these age-related differences in the acceptability of different flavors and foods, we performed an fMRI study to investigate brain and hedonic responses to orange juice, orange soda, and vegetable juice in three different age groups: Young (22), Middle (40) and Elderly (60 years). Orange juice and orange soda were found to be liked by all age groups, while vegetable juice was disliked by the Young, but liked by the Elderly. In the insular primary taste cortex, the activations to these stimuli were similar in the 3 age groups, indicating that the differences in liking for these stimuli between the 3 groups were not represented in this first stage of cortical taste processing. In the agranular insula (anterior to the insular primary taste cortex) where flavor is represented, the activations to the stimuli were similar in the Elderly, but in the Young the activations were larger to the vegetable juice than to the orange drinks; and the activations here were correlated with the unpleasantness of the stimuli. In the anterior midcingulate cortex, investigated as a site where the activations were correlated with the unpleasantness of the stimuli, there was again a greater activation to the vegetable than to the orange stimuli in the Young but not in the Elderly. In the amygdala (and orbitofrontal cortex), investigated as sites where the activations were correlated with the pleasantness of the stimuli, there was a smaller activation to the vegetable than to the orange stimuli in the Young but not in the Elderly. The Middle group was intermediate with respect to the separation of their activations to the stimuli in the brain areas that represent the pleasantness or unpleasantness of flavors. Thus age differences in the activations to different flavors can in some brain areas be related to, and probably cause, the differences in pleasantness of foods as they differ for people of different ages. This novel work provides a foundation for understanding the underlying neural bases for differences in food acceptability between age groups.
有强有力的证据表明，食物和饮料的可接受性存在与年龄相关的差异。为了探究这些不同口味和食物可接受性方面与年龄相关差异的神经基础，我们进行了一项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究，以调查三个不同年龄组（青年组（22岁）、中年组（40岁）和老年组（60岁））对橙汁、橙汁汽水和蔬菜汁的大脑反应及享乐反应。结果发现，所有年龄组都喜欢橙汁和橙汁汽水，而青年组不喜欢蔬菜汁，但老年组喜欢。在岛叶初级味觉皮层，这三个年龄组对这些刺激的激活情况相似，这表明在皮层味觉处理的第一阶段，这三组对这些刺激喜好的差异并未体现出来。在代表味道的颗粒下岛叶（岛叶初级味觉皮层前方），老年组对这些刺激的激活情况相似，但青年组对蔬菜汁的激活大于对橙汁饮料的激活；并且这里的激活与刺激的不愉快程度相关。在前扣带回中部皮层，该区域被作为激活与刺激不愉快程度相关的部位进行研究，结果再次表明，青年组对蔬菜汁的激活大于对橙汁刺激的激活，而老年组并非如此。在杏仁核（和眶额皮层），该区域被作为激活与刺激愉悦程度相关的部位进行研究，结果表明，青年组对蔬菜汁的激活小于对橙汁刺激的激活，而老年组并非如此。中年组在代表味道愉悦或不愉快的脑区中，对这些刺激的激活分离情况处于中间水平。因此，不同脑区对不同味道激活的年龄差异在某些情况下可能与不同年龄人群对食物愉悦度的差异相关，并且很可能是造成这种差异的原因。这项新的研究为理解不同年龄组食物可接受性差异的潜在神经基础提供了依据。
