Metabolic modulation of food reward anticipation - from perceptual mechanisms to clinical implications

Human food consumption habits pose a fundamental problem for public health and environmental sustainability, but the complex interactions between homeostatic needs and the desire to eat remain poorly understood.

This project aims to delineate the mechanisms by which metabolic states (hunger/satiety) regulate reward attribution to sensory food stimuli, making it difficult to resist flavorful meals when we are hungry and to continue eating when we are full.

Study 1 will behaviorally assess the specificity of metabolic modulation to the olfactory modality and the food content of the anticipatory reward stimulus, and probe implicit effects on reward-seeking behavior with the help of a novel ecologically relevant adaption of the incentive delay paradigm.

Study 2 will use multivariate fMRI analyses to identify differences in perceptual stimulus encoding during hunger and satiety, and determine invigorating effects of anticipatory food reward on sensory-striatal connectivity.

We will then seek to understand the impact of dysregulation in this circuitry for disturbed eating behavior; the final two studies will, on a behavioral and neuroanatomical level, pinpoint the stages of anticipatory reward regulation where eating disorder patients show deficits relative to controls.

Taken together, this project will answer fundamental questions about human food intake regulation, and provide a starting point for development of intervention strategies for dysregulated food consumption behavior.