Abstract
The presentation of visual food cues (e.g., food plating) can affect our appetite and leads to characteristic changes of early as well as late positivity in the electroencephalogram. The present event-related potential (ERP) study attempted to change ERPs and affective ratings for food pictures by rearranging the components of a depicted meal (conventional presentation) as a smiley or frowny. The images were presented to 68 women (mean age = 24 years), who rated the wanting and liking of the meals. Compared to conventional food plating, smiley and frowny meals elicited enhanced amplitudes of the P200, P300, and late positive potential (LPP) in a large occipito-parietal cluster. Frowny meals were rated as less appetizing than conventional food presentations. The mentioned ERP components are concomitants of face configuration processing (P200), automatic attention/novelty detection (P300), and voluntary attention/assignment of emotional meaning (LPP). Thus, the combination of two affective cues (food, face) in one stimulus changed the activation in motivational circuits of the brain. Also, serving a meal as a frowny could help to regulate appetite.
Highlights
Cues in our environment that signal reward or punishment reflexively activate fundamental motivational circuits in the brain prompting heightened attention and selection of appropriate action (Bradley et al 2012)
The late positive potential (LPP) is sensitive to appraisal manipulations which alter the meaning attributed to an emotional stimulus (e.g., Moser et al 2006), while the P300 can be changed through manipulations of directed attention
We demonstrated that food plating with facial patterns can influence event-related brain potentials and the liking/wanting of a meal presentation
Summary
Cues in our environment that signal reward or punishment reflexively activate fundamental motivational circuits in the brain prompting heightened attention and selection of appropriate action (Bradley et al 2012). Food cues, such as images of food, are types of reward stimuli that are associated with ‘motivated attention’ and characteristic changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG). The P300 (a positive deflection in the EEG starting approximately 300 ms after stimulus onset) and the LPP (a positive deflection in the EEG that follows the P300 and can last up to 6000 ms; Cuthbert et al 2000) are most enhanced for pictures rated highest in emotional arousal, regardless of whether they depict appetitive (e.g., food) or aversive (e.g., violence) contents (Schupp et al 2004). The LPP is sensitive to (re) appraisal manipulations which alter the meaning attributed to an emotional stimulus (e.g., Moser et al 2006), while the P300 can be changed through manipulations of directed attention (through instructions or task requirements; Ferrari et al 2008; Thiruchselvam et al 2011)
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