Psychology News
A team of researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University explored how visual food cues influence our eating behavior. The study is published in PLOS ONE.
The Study
The researchers asked 31 healthy male volunteers to respond to visual food cues or food images in a series of experiments. Their brain activity was recorded and analyzed.
The Findings
The results revealed that visual food cues can affect your eating behavior. Certain food visuals affect food choices, whether these are consciously or unconsciously perceived by our brains.
However, the study clarifies that unconscious neural processes play a more important role than previously thought of in controlling eating behavior, particularly in obesity and other disordered eating habits.
The lead researcher, Professor Yoshikawa, stated: “If we can learn more in future research about how eating behavior is controlled by unconscious neural processes, we can combine that understanding with our current knowledge of conscious neural processes to potentially develop more effective methods for regulating eating behavior.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Ishida, R., Ishii, A., Matsuo, T., Minami, T., & Yoshikawa, T. (2022). Association between eating behavior and the immediate neural activity caused by viewing food images presented in and out of awareness: A magnetoencephalography study. PloS one, 17(12), e0275959. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275959