Brain network dynamics in the perception of food processing levels

Food processing level influences consumer food evaluation and selection, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unexplored. This study examined neural responses to prepared and natural food images using electroencephalography source imaging and whole-brain functional connectivity analysis. Prepared foods evoked stronger activation along the ventral visual stream, including the fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and orbitofrontal cortex, with enhanced connectivity between visual, limbic, and somatomotor networks. Natural foods recruited the precuneus and showed distributed connectivity centered on the dorsal attention network. Network enrichment analysis confirmed preferential limbic and visual system involvement for prepared foods, and attentional network recruitment for natural foods. Our results indicate that food processing level recruits distinct large-scale brain networks during visual food perception, with prepared foods eliciting rapid sensory reward integration and natural foods engaging broader evaluative processing. These findings provide a brain network-based framework for visual food evaluation, with implications for product development and visual communication strategies.