Brain activation during repeated imagining of chocolate consumption: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

To assess brain activation during mental visualization of eating chocolate.

Twenty-one subjects were included. FMRI was acquired with a single-shot, multislice, gradient echo-planar sequence, while subjects were performing two specific imaginary tasks.

Activation of motor-associated brain areas was observed during both mental visualization tasks. Increased activation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the thalamus, the postcentral gyrus and the left anterior cingulate cortex, and the precuneus was observed during imagining eating chocolate.

Repeated imagination of chocolate consumption results in activation of brain areas associated with hedonic effects of food and satiety and inhibition of orexigenic areas.