Visual food stimulus changes resting oscillatory brain activities related to appetitive motive

Takahiro Yoshikawa, Masaaki Tanaka, Akira Ishii, Yoko Yamano, Yasuyoshi Watanabe

Changes of resting brain activities after visual food stimulation might affect the feeling of pleasure in eating food in daily life and spontaneous appetitive motives. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify brain areas related to the activity changes. Fifteen healthy, right-handed males [age, 25.4 ± 5.5 years; body mass index, 22.5 ± 2.7 kg/m(2) (mean ± SD)] were enrolled. They were asked to watch food or mosaic pictures for 5 min and to close their eyes for 3 min before and after the picture presentation without thinking of anything. Resting brain activities were recorded during two eye-closed sessions. The feeling of pleasure in eating food in daily life and appetitive motives in the study setting were assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. The γ-band power of resting oscillatory brain activities was decreased after the food picture presentation in the right insula [Brodmann's area (BA) 13], the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (BA11), and the left frontal pole (BA10). Significant reductions of the α-band power were observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (BA46). Particularly, the feeling of pleasure in eating food was positively correlated with the power decrease in the insula and negatively with that in the DLPFC. The changes in appetitive motives were associated with the power decrease in the frontal pole. These findings suggest automatic brain mechanics whereby changes of the resting brain activity might be associated with positive feeling in dietary life and have an impact on the irresistible appetitive motives through emotional and cognitive brain functions.