Table 1.
fMRI studies of healthy subjects involving chocolate and high-caloric foods.
| Authors | Subjects | Stimuli | Task | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver et al., 2006 [26] | n = 12; 7 F/5 M | Vision: Appetizing, Disgusting, Bland, Non-Food | Passive Viewing | ↑ L OFC, ventral striatum |
| Bohon et al., 2009 [43] | n = 20; 20 F 2 Groups: Emotional vs. NonEmotional Eaters | Taste and Vision: Chocolate milkshake, tasteless solution, or no solution visual shapes (cues) | Negative vs. Neutral mood induction | ↑ L ventral ACC, thalamus across groups; ↑ L parahippocampal gyrus, ACC for emotional eaters in negative mood state during anticipation; ↑ L caudate, L pallidum, bilateral ACC during milkshake receipt in emotional eaters |
| Burger and Stice, 2012 [44] | n = 151; 74 M/77F Adolescents | Taste and Vision: Milkshake or tasteless solution Visual stimuli | Passive Viewing and Tasting | ↓ bilateral putamen, R caudate, bilateral DLPFC, mid and anterior insula to milkshake receipt in frequent consumers |
| Burger and Stice, 2011 [39] | n = 39; 39 F Adolescents | Taste and Vision: Cues associated with milkshake reward, tasteless solution, or no solution | Viewing, consumption, and anticipation of food | Positive correlation between dietary restraint scores and R OFC, DLPFC milkshake > tasteless solution activations. |
| Coletta et al., 2009 [42] |
n = 19; 19 F Restrained Eaters n = 9 Unrestrained Eaters N = 10 |
Vision: Highly palatable, moderately palatable, and non-food images | View images Before/after Satiety | ↓ R STG, L parahippocampal gyrus, L putamen, L middle frontal gyrus (part of DLPFC) in unrestrained eaters; ↑ cerebellum, L MFG, L DLPFC, L cingulate gyrus, R IFG, R precuneus, L parahippocampal gyrus in unrestrained during fed state |
| Evero et al., 2012 [25] | n = 30; 17 M/13 F | Vision: High energy low energy Non-food items |
Passive viewing after rest and exercise | ↓ insula, ↑L precuneus activity to high-caloric foods after exercise |
| Frank et al., 2010 [27] | n = 12; 12 F | High-caloric, Low-caloric, Non-food pictures |
Attend to pictures and imagine eating the food. 2 Sessions: Late follicular and Mid-late luteal phase | ↑ R NAc, R amygdala, R hippocampus in follicular compared to luteal phase; ↑ R lateral OFC, L mid cingulum in luteal relative to follicular phase |
| Frank et al., 2010 [28] | n = 12; 12 F | High-caloric, Low-caloric Non-food stimuli | Food and non-food 1-back tasks; control task | ↑ OFC, insula, occipital lobe, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, thalamus, superior frontal lobe |
| Goldstone et al., 2009 [29] | n = 20; 10 M/10 F | Vision: High-caloric, low-caloric, non-food, and blurred images | Rate how appealing each image is during both fasted and fed states | ↑ ventral striatum, amygdala, anterior insula, medial and lateral OFC when fasted |
| Killgore and Yurgelun-Todd, 2006 [45] | n = 13; 13 F | Vision: High calorie, low calorie, non-edible (utensils) | Attempt to remember images for later recognition test | ↑ R lateral OFC with greater positive affect; ↑ medial OFC, subcallosal anterior cingulate gyrus, and posterior insula with greater negative affect |
| Killgore et al., 2003 [19] | n = 13; 13 F | Vision: High calorie, Low calorie, Non-edible (utensils) | Remember images for later recognition test | ↑ bilateral mPFC, DLPFC, thalamus, R cerebellum, middle occipital gyrus, medulla |
| Kringelbach et al., 2003 [4] | n = 10; 10 M | Taste: Chocolate milk, tomato juice, tasteless solution | Passive tasting before and after satiety | ↓ L OFC with satiety to tomato juice and chocolate milk, but no change with foods that were not consumed during the meal |
| Kroemer et al., 2013 [21] | n = 26; 13 M/13 F Fasting ghrelin levels measured | Vision: High palatable Low palatable food | Passive viewing | ↑ bilateral middle and superior occipital/temporal gyrus, fusiform, caudate, pallidum, midbrain, rolandic operculum, amygdala, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, hypothalamus |
| McCabe et al., 2010 [46] | n = 45; 21M/24F Citalopram n = 15 Reboxetine n = 15 Placebo n = 15 | Taste and Vision: Liquid chocolate, liquid strawberry solution, tasteless solution; chocolate, gray control images | Rate stimulus pleasantness/unpleasantness after 7 days treatment with citalopram, reboxetine, or placebo | ↑ ventral striatum, cingulate, mid OFC ↓ ventral striatum, ventral medial OFC to chocolate with citalopram ↑ activation to chocolate with reboxetine in medial OFC/frontal pole |
| Mehta et al., 2012 [20] | n = 23; 10 M/13 F | Vision: High-caloric, Low-caloric images | Attend to stimuli during deprived and various satiated sates | ↑ bilateral amygdala positively associated with hunger scores and negatively associated with fullness in fasted state; ↑ R amygdala associated with greater hunger post-breakfast ↑ medial OFC positively associated with hunger scores in fasted state; ↑ medial OFC, L amygdala, L insula, bilateral NAc associated with food choice |
| Page et al., 2011 [30] | n = 21; 12 M/9 F | Vision: High-caloric, Low-caloric, Non-food images | Passive Viewing under euglycemic or hypoglycemic states | ↑ striatum and insula during mild hypoglycemia; ↑ activity in ACC and ventromedial PFC correlated with higher blood glucose; ↑ insula and putamen correlates with high cortisol levels |
| Passamonti et al., 2009 [31] | n = 21; 11 M/10 F | Vision: Highly appetizing Bland food images No events | Indicate image position via button press | ↑ ventral striatum, amygdala, ventral ACC |
| Piech et al., 2009 [36] | n = 8; 5 M/3 F | Vision: words Restaurant menu items High vs. Low attractiveness | Read menu item, Imagine dish in front of you, Rate how much you would like it during both hungry and satiated states | ↑ amygdala, cerebellum to high attractive items; ↑ medial and lateral OFC to high attractiveness items when hungry |
| Rolls and McCabe, 2007 [2] | n = 16; 16 F Cravers n = 8 Non-cravers n = 8 | Taste and Vision: Chocolate and condensed milk in mouth; dark and white chocolate images, grey visual cues | Rate pleasantness, intensity, and wanting for chocolate in each trial | ↑ primary taste cortex, dorsal ACC, ↑ mid OFC, ventral striatum, DLPFC to chocolate in mouth; ↑ medial OFC in cravers versus non-cravers; ↑ ACC and pregenual cingulate cortex for cravers in sight and taste of chocolate condition; ↑ mid and medial OFC, ventral striatum for cravers to sight of chocolate |
| Schur et al., 2009 [32] | n = 10; 10 F | Vision: Fattening, non-fattening, and non-food object images | Remember what images were presented | ↑ midbrain including ventral tegmental area, hypothalamus, L amygdala, L DLPFC, L OFC, R insula, striatum, thalamus, areas 17 and 18 of occipital lobe for fattening > non-food contrast; ↑ brainstem, R hypothalamus, L amygdala, R inferior frontal gyrus, insula, striatum, thalamus |
| Siep et al., 2009 [3] | n = 12; 12 F | Vision: High-caloric, Low-caloric, and Neutral images | Indicate palatability of foods and vividly imagine their tastes, color of neutral objects, or orientations of bars during food deprived and satiated states | Reduced inhibition of L medial PFC; ↑ fusiform, R medial OFC, R insula, L caudate putamen, PCC during hunger |
| Small et al., 2005 [5] | n = 11 | Smell: Butanol, farnesol, lavender, and chocolate odors | Passive perception of odors Pleasantness/intensity ratings after each run | ↑ medial OFC, perigenual cingulate to chocolate during retronasal administration; ↑ thalamus, R caudolateral OFC, R hippocampus, perisylvian and insular cortices for orthonasal administration |
| Smeets et al., 2006 [47] | n = 24; 12M/12 F | Taste: Chocolate milk, Eating solid chocolate | Taste chocolate milk during fasted and satiated states Indicate motivation to eat chocolate during scans | ↑ L ventral striatum, L precentral gyrus, DLPFC, L dorsal striatum, anterior insula, OFC, medial OFC; ↓ inferior and superior parietal lobules, medial PFC for satiety in men; ↑ precentral gyrus, R superior temporal gyrus, ventral striatum; ↓ hypothalamus and amygdala for satiety in females |
↑: Increased Activation; ↓: Decreased Activation.