A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Reward responses to vicarious feeding depend on body mass index
Authors: Järvinen, Lili; Santavirta, Severi; Putkinen, Vesa; Karlsson, Henry K.; Seppälä, Kerttu; Sun, Lihua; Hudson, Matthew; Hirvonen, Jussi; Nuutila, Pirjo; Nummenmaa, Lauri
Publisher: Springer Nature
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience
Journal name in source: Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
ISSN: 1530-7026
eISSN: 1531-135X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-025-01265-5
Web address : https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-025-01265-5
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/484858135
Eating is inherently social for humans. Yet, most neuroimaging studies of appetite and food-induced reward have focused on studying brain responses to food intake or viewing pictures of food alone. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure haemodynamic responses to “vicarious” feeding. The subjects (n = 97) viewed series of short videos representing naturalistic episodes of social eating intermixed with videos without feeding/appetite-related content. Viewing the vicarious feeding (versus control) videos activated motor and premotor cortices, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, consistent with somatomotor and affective engagement. Responses to the feeding videos were negatively correlated with the participants’ body mass index. Altogether these results suggest that seeing others eating engages the corresponding motor and affective programs in the viewers’ brain, potentially increasing appetite and promoting mutual feeding.
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Funding information in the publication:
Open Access funding provided by University of Turku (including Turku University Central Hospital). The study was supported by the Sigrid Juselius Foundation and Academy of Finland (grants numbers 294897 and 332225) to LN, Turku University Foundation and Alfred Kordelin Foundation grants to SS and Finnish Governmental Research Funding for Turku University Hospital and for the Western Finland collaborative area to SS.
