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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Published on: March 19, 2014

Functional connectivity in obesity during reward processing.

I García-García¹, M A Jurado², M Garolera³

¹Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

|October 30, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Obesity is linked to altered brain activity in response to rewards. Individuals with obesity show weaker connectivity in key brain networks when viewing both food and non-food rewarding images.

Keywords:

Connectivity Functional magnetic resonance imaging Obesity Reward

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Obesity Research

Background:

Obesity is a growing health concern with emerging links to reward processing differences.
Previous research suggests associations between obesity and altered reward system activity.
It remains unclear if these reward processing differences are specific to food stimuli or extend to other rewards.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether differences in reward processing in individuals with obesity extend beyond food stimuli.
To compare brain responses to food, non-food rewarding, and neutral stimuli in adults with and without obesity.
To explore the neural underpinnings of reward processing alterations in obesity.

Main Methods:

Utilized independent component analysis (ICA) to analyze brain activity.
Compared neural responses to visual stimuli (food, non-food rewards, neutral) in young adults with obesity (n=18) and normal-weight controls (n=19).
Examined functional connectivity within specific brain networks, including fronto-occipital areas and the default mode network (DMN).

Main Results:

Participants with obesity exhibited weaker connectivity in a network involving frontal and occipital areas and deactivation of the posterior default mode network (DMN) for both food and non-food rewards.
Obesity was associated with reduced DMN activation and weaker deactivation of frontal and occipital areas when viewing neutral stimuli.
Both groups showed plausible modulation of task-related brain activity.

Conclusions:

Obesity is associated with altered cognitive resource allocation within fronto-occipital and default mode networks.
Reward processing differences in obesity are not limited to food stimuli and involve broader neural networks.
Findings suggest a distinct pattern of neural engagement related to reward and cognitive control in individuals with obesity.