Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Nov 2;13(11):e0204744. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204744. eCollection 2018.
Several public health departments throughout North America have responded to the obesity epidemic by mandating that restaurants publish calories at the point of purchase-with the intention of encouraging healthier food decisions. To help determine whether accompanying calorie information successfully changes a food's appetitive value, this study investigated the influence of calorie information on brain responses to food images. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, dieting (N = 22) and non-dieting (N = 20) participants viewed pictures of food with and without calorie information and rated their desire to eat the food. When food images were paired with calorie information, not only did self-reported desire to eat the food decrease, but reward system activation (Neurosynth-defined from the term "food") decreased and control system activation (the fronto-parietal [FP] control system) increased. Additionally, a parametric modulation of reward activation by food preferences was attenuated in the context of calorie information. Finally, whole brain multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed patterns of activation in a region of the reward system-the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-that were more similar for food images presented with and without calorie information in dieting than non-dieting participants, suggesting that dieters may spontaneously consider calorie information when viewing food. Taken together, these results suggest that calorie information may alter brain responses to food cues by simultaneously reducing reward system activation and increasing control system activation. Moreover, individuals with greater experience or stronger motivations to consider calorie information (i.e., dieters) may more naturally do so, as evidenced by a greater degree of representational similarity between food images with and without calorie information. Combining an awareness of calories with the motivation to control them may more effectively elicit diet-related behavior change.
北美多个公共卫生部门针对肥胖问题采取了措施，要求餐厅在销售点公布食品卡路里含量，以鼓励人们选择更健康的食品。为了研究卡路里信息是否会改变人们对食物的吸引力，本研究调查了卡路里信息对大脑对食物图像反应的影响。在功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描期间，节食者（N=22）和非节食者（N=20）参与者观看了有和没有卡路里信息的食物图片，并对他们的进食欲望进行了评分。当食物图片与卡路里信息配对时，不仅自我报告的进食欲望下降，而且奖励系统激活（根据术语“食物”在神经科学中的定义）下降，而控制系统激活（额顶叶[FP]控制系统）上升。此外，在卡路里信息的背景下，食物偏好对奖励激活的参数调制减弱。最后，全脑多变量模式分析（MVPA）显示，在奖励系统的一个区域（眶额皮层，OFC）中，激活模式在节食者中比非节食者更相似，对于有和没有卡路里信息的食物图片，这表明节食者在观看食物时可能会自发考虑卡路里信息。综上所述，这些结果表明，卡路里信息可能通过同时减少奖励系统的激活和增加控制系统的激活来改变大脑对食物线索的反应。此外，具有更多经验或更强动机考虑卡路里信息的个体（即节食者）可能更自然地这样做，这可以通过卡路里信息有和没有卡路里信息的食物图片之间的代表性相似性更大来证明。将卡路里意识与控制卡路里的动机相结合，可能更有效地引发与饮食相关的行为改变。
