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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to determine whether visual responses to food in the human amygdala and related corticolimbic structures would be selectively altered by changes in states of hunger. Participants viewed images of motivationally relevant (food) and motivationally irrelevant (tool) objects while undergoing fMRI in alternately hungry and satiated conditions. Food-related visual stimuli elicited greater responses in the amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus. and anterior fusiform gyrus when participants were in a hungry state relative to a satiated state. The state-dependent activation of these brain structures did not generalize to the motivationally irrelevant objects. These results support the hypothesis that the amygdala and associated inferotemporal regions are involved in the integration of subjective interoceptive states with relevant sensory cues processed along the ventral visual stream.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Behav Neurosci

Publication Date

04/2001

Volume

115

Pages

493 - 500

Keywords

Adult, Amygdala, Attention, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Cues, Eating, Female, Humans, Hunger, Limbic System, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Motivation, Neural Pathways, Satiety Response, Temporal Lobe, Visual Perception