Event-related potential signatures of perceived and imagined emotional and food real-life photos

Abstract

Although food and affective pictures share similar emotional and motivational characteristics, the relationship between the neuronal responses to these stimuli is unclear. Particularly, it is not known whether perceiving and imagining food and affective stimuli elicit similar event-related potential (ERP) patterns. In this study, two ERP correlates, the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive potential (LPP) for perceived and imagined emotional and food photographs were investigated. Thirteen healthy volunteers were exposed to a set of food photos, as well as unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral photos from the International Affective Picture System. In each trial, participants were first asked to view a photo (perception condition), and then to create a visual mental image of it and to rate its vividness (imagery condition). The results showed that during perception, brain regions corresponding to sensorimotor and parietal motivational (defensive and appetitive) systems were activated to different extents, producing a graded pattern of EPN and LPP responses specific to the photo content - more prominent for unpleasant than pleasant and food content. Also, an EPN signature occurred in both conditions for unpleasant content, suggesting that, compared to food or pleasant content, unpleasant content may be attended to more intensely during perception and may be represented more distinctly during imagery. Finally, compared to LLP activation during perception, as well as imagery and perception of all other content, LPP activation was significantly reduced during imagery of unpleasant photos, suggesting inhibition of unwanted memories. Results are framed within a neurocognitive working model of embodied emotions.

No evidence of calorie‐related modulation of N2 in food‐related Go/No‐Go training: A preregistered ERP study

“…Calorie content of the food might therefore be processed only at later stages which are not captured by the N2. Future research should therefore consider later event‐related potentials reflecting higher order processes such as the P3, late positive potential (LPP, Feig et al, ), or early posterior negativity (EPN, Marmolejo‐Ramos et al, ). For a review of this literature, see Carbine, Rodeback, et al ().…”

Neurofunctional Symmetries and Asymmetries during Voluntary out-of- and within-Body Vivid Imagery Concurrent with Orienting Attention and Visuospatial Detection

“…Voluntary visual imagery and corresponding vividness self-reports have been linked to a specific ERP signature, sometimes labelled as P8/900 in cognitive research [76] and as late positive potential (LPP) in emotion research [77]. The best characterization of this ERP signature has been provided in several studies by Farah and colleagues [78,79].…”

Emotional eating and instructed food-cue processing in adolescents: An ERP study

“…The P3 is a positive ERP component occurring ~300 ms post-stimulus onset and is associated with attention allocation and memory (Polich & Kok, 1995). The LPP is a slow wave ERP which emerges as early as 200 ms and lasts 1000 ms or more and is associated with more extended attention allocation driven by the emotional and motivational relevance of visual images (Cuthbert, Schupp, Bradley, Birbaumer, & Lang, 2000; Hajcak, MacNamara, & Olvet, 2010; Marmolejo-Ramos et al, 2015). …”