Overview
- A peer-reviewed paper in Appetite reports that event-related potentials to images of sated foods did not diminish after participants ate to fullness.
- In the experiment, 76 volunteers performed a reward-based learning task as EEG recorded brain activity, then ate one of the target foods until they no longer wanted another bite.
- Participants’ self-reports and behavior showed the eaten food had lost value, yet neural reward responses to its images remained strong.
- Researchers found no link between goal-directed decision-making and this devaluation insensitivity, indicating self-control did not predict the brain response.
- The study, led by the University of East Anglia with the University of Plymouth, highlights how pervasive food cues may promote eating in the absence of hunger.