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Wang Y, Yao X. Neural correlates of willingness to pay for items: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Physiol Behav 2024; 278:114481. [PMID: 38369217 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2023] [Revised: 01/21/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Willingness to pay (WTP) pervades every marketplace transaction, therefore, understanding how the brain makes bidding decisions is essential in consumer neuroscience. Although some neuroimaging studies have investigated the neural networks of WTP, systematic understanding remains limited. This study identified reliable neural networks activated by the WTP across different reward types and assessed common and distinct neural networks for different reward types (food and other) bids. We conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on WTP across different reward types (25 studies; 254 foci; 705 participants), and to compared neural representations of WTP for food reward (22 studies; 232 foci; 628 participants) and other rewards (7 studies, 61 foci; 177 participants). The ALE results revealed that the brain centers of WTP for different rewards mainly consist of the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), bilateral insula, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), along with the left caudate. This suggests that neural networks encoding WTP for different rewards consist of brain regions associated with reward processing, cost-benefit calculations, and goal-directed action activities. In addition, consistent activation of the bilateral IFG and bilateral insula for food but no other rewards bids suggest their involvement in the neural network of appetite. WTP for food and other rewards commonly activated ACC, suggesting a common region encoding bids for different rewards. Our findings provide novel insights into neural networks associated with WTP for food and other rewards bids and the mechanisms underlying WTP across different reward types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiwen Wang
- School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China; Institute of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China.
| | - Xiaoqiang Yao
- School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China; Institute of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China
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Janet R, Smallwood J, Hutcherson CA, Plassmann H, Mckeown B, Tusche A. Body mass index-dependent shifts along large-scale gradients in human cortical organization explain dietary regulatory success. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2314224121. [PMID: 38648482 PMCID: PMC11067012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2314224121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Making healthy dietary choices is essential for keeping weight within a normal range. Yet many people struggle with dietary self-control despite good intentions. What distinguishes neural processing in those who succeed or fail to implement healthy eating goals? Does this vary by weight status? To examine these questions, we utilized an analytical framework of gradients that characterize systematic spatial patterns of large-scale neural activity, which have the advantage of considering the entire suite of processes subserving self-control and potential regulatory tactics at the whole-brain level. Using an established laboratory food task capturing brain responses in natural and regulatory conditions (N = 123), we demonstrate that regulatory changes of dietary brain states in the gradient space predict individual differences in dietary success. Better regulators required smaller shifts in brain states to achieve larger goal-consistent changes in dietary behaviors, pointing toward efficient network organization. This pattern was most pronounced in individuals with lower weight status (low-BMI, body mass index) but absent in high-BMI individuals. Consistent with prior work, regulatory goals increased activity in frontoparietal brain circuits. However, this shift in brain states alone did not predict variance in dietary success. Instead, regulatory success emerged from combined changes along multiple gradients, showcasing the interplay of different large-scale brain networks subserving dietary control and possible regulatory strategies. Our results provide insights into how the brain might solve the problem of dietary control: Dietary success may be easier for people who adopt modes of large-scale brain activation that do not require significant reconfigurations across contexts and goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Janet
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ONK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Jonathan Smallwood
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ONK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Cendri A. Hutcherson
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONM5S 2E5, Canada
- Department of Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONM5S 3E6, Canada
| | - Hilke Plassmann
- Marketing Area, INSEAD, FontainebleauF-77300, France
- Control-Interoception-Attention Team, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, Paris75013, France
| | - Bronte Mckeown
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ONK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Anita Tusche
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ONK7L 3N6, Canada
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA91125
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Newton-Fenner A, Hewitt D, Henderson J, Roberts H, Mari T, Gu Y, Gorelkina O, Giesbrecht T, Fallon N, Roberts C, Stancak A. Economic value in the Brain: A meta-analysis of willingness-to-pay using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286969. [PMID: 37428744 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Forming and comparing subjective values (SVs) of choice options is a critical stage of decision-making. Previous studies have highlighted a complex network of brain regions involved in this process by utilising a diverse range of tasks and stimuli, varying in economic, hedonic and sensory qualities. However, the heterogeneity of tasks and sensory modalities may systematically confound the set of regions mediating the SVs of goods. To identify and delineate the core brain valuation system involved in processing SV, we utilised the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction, an incentivised demand-revealing mechanism which quantifies SV through the economic metric of willingness-to-pay (WTP). A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis analysed twenty-four fMRI studies employing a BDM task (731 participants; 190 foci). Using an additional contrast analysis, we also investigated whether this encoding of SV would be invariant to the concurrency of auction task and fMRI recordings. A fail-safe number analysis was conducted to explore potential publication bias. WTP positively correlated with fMRI-BOLD activations in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex with a sub-cluster extending into anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral ventral striatum, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right anterior insula. Contrast analysis identified preferential engagement of the mentalizing-related structures in response to concurrent scanning. Together, our findings offer succinct empirical support for the core structures participating in the formation of SV, separate from the hedonic aspects of reward and evaluated in terms of WTP using BDM, and show the selective involvement of inhibition-related brain structures during active valuation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Newton-Fenner
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Institute of Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Danielle Hewitt
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Henderson
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Hannah Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Tyler Mari
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Yiquan Gu
- Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Olga Gorelkina
- Management School, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Timo Giesbrecht
- Unilever, Research and Development, Port Sunlight, United Kingdom
| | - Nicolas Fallon
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Carl Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Andrej Stancak
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Institute of Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Brain functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging of obesity and weight loss interventions. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:1466-1479. [PMID: 36918706 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02025-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Obesity has tripled over the past 40 years to become a major public health issue, as it is linked with increased mortality and elevated risk for various physical and neuropsychiatric illnesses. Accumulating evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that obesity negatively affects brain function and structure, especially within fronto-mesolimbic circuitry. Obese individuals show abnormal neural responses to food cues, taste and smell, resting-state activity and functional connectivity, and cognitive tasks including decision-making, inhibitory-control, learning/memory, and attention. In addition, obesity is associated with altered cortical morphometry, a lowered gray/white matter volume, and impaired white matter integrity. Various interventions and treatments including bariatric surgery, the most effective treatment for obesity in clinical practice, as well as dietary, exercise, pharmacological, and neuromodulation interventions such as transcranial direct current stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation and neurofeedback have been employed and achieved promising outcomes. These interventions and treatments appear to normalize hyper- and hypoactivations of brain regions involved with reward processing, food-intake control, and cognitive function, and also promote recovery of brain structural abnormalities. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the recent neuroimaging advances on the underlying neural mechanisms of both obesity and interventions, in the hope of guiding development of novel and effective treatments.
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The brain bases of regulation of eating behaviors: the role of reward, executive control, and valuation processes, and new paths to propel the field forward. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Suzuki S. Constructing value signals for food rewards: determinants and the integration. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Yang Y, Wu Q, Morys F. Brain Responses to High-Calorie Visual Food Cues in Individuals with Normal-Weight or Obesity: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11121587. [PMID: 34942889 PMCID: PMC8699077 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11121587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 11/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Overconsumption of high-calorie or unhealthy foods commonly leads to weight gain. Understanding people’s neural responses to high-calorie food cues might help to develop better interventions for preventing or reducing overeating and weight gain. In this review, we conducted a coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of viewing high-calorie food cues in both normal-weight people and people with obesity. Electronic databases were searched for relevant articles, retrieving 59 eligible studies containing 2410 unique participants. The results of an activation likelihood estimation indicate large clusters in a range of structures, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), amygdala, insula/frontal operculum, culmen, as well as the middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus, and fusiform gyrus. Conjunction analysis suggested that both normal-weight people and people with obesity activated OFC, supporting that the two groups share common neural substrates of reward processing when viewing high-calorie food cues. The contrast analyses did not show significant activations when comparing obesity with normal-weight. Together, these results provide new important evidence for the neural mechanism underlying high-calorie food cues processing, and new insights into common and distinct brain activations of viewing high-calorie food cues between people with obesity and normal-weight people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingkai Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2 Tiansheng Street, Beibei District, Chongqing 400715, China
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +86-13164407461
| | - Qian Wu
- The Lab of Mental Health and Social Adaptation, Faculty of Psychology, Research Center of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China;
| | - Filip Morys
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada;
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