Cognitive regulation of multimodal food perception in the human brain

The ability to regulate appetite is essential to avoid food over-consumption. The desire for a particular food can be triggered by its odor before it is even seen. Using fMRI, we identify the neural systems modulated by cognitive regulation when experiencing appetizing food stimuli presented in both olfactory and visual modalities, while being hungry. Regulatory instruction modulated bids for food items and inhalation patterns. Distinct brain regions were observed for up and down appetite-regulation, respectively the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and dorsolateral PFC. Food valuation engaged the ventromedial PFC and bilateral striatum while the amygdala was modulated by individual food preferences, indexed by rank-ordered bids. Furthermore, we identified a neurobiological marker for up-regulating success: individuals with higher blood levels of ghrelin were better at exercising up-regulation, and engaged more the dmPFC. This characterizes the neural circuitry regulating food consumption and suggests potential hormonal and neurofunctional targets for preventing eating disorders.