Engaging visual media shifts taste-related neural processing: An fMRI study on distracted eating

Distracted eating is prevalent in modern environments. While behavioral research consistently shows that distraction attenuates taste perception and increases food intake, the underlying neural mechanisms appear to be more complex.

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated whether naturalistic distraction modulates gustatory processing via sensory suppression or reallocation of neural resources, as observed in more controlled cognitive load paradigms.

Thirty-eight healthy participants received sweet and umami taste stimuli of low and high concentration during fMRI scanning. Attentional state was manipulated using short food-related (low-distraction) versus film-related (high-distraction) video clips. After each video, participants rated perceived intensity and pleasantness. Group-level analyses included covariates for sex, body mass index (BMI), and hunger level.

High distraction attenuated perceived intensity (p < 0.001, d = -0.28) and pleasantness (p < 0.01, d = -0.21), independent of taste category or concentration. No significant attenuation by distraction was observed in core gustatory regions (insula, orbitofrontal cortex). Instead, distraction increased activation in occipital, thalamic, and cerebellar regions, indicating a redistribution of processing resources toward visual and attentional systems.

Distraction reduced taste salience without lowering gustatory cortex activity, supporting resource-competition models rather than active sensory suppression. These results reinforce that the impact of distracted eating is behaviorally robust yet neurally subtle, highlighting the need for personalized stimuli and ecologically valid methods to capture real-world eating behavior. The study demonstrates that video-based paradigms work reliably in fMRI and capture how naturalistic distraction alters taste experience.