Mapping the sequence of brain events in response to disgusting food

Abstract

Warning signals indicating that a food is potentially dangerous may evoke a response that is not limited to the feeling of disgust. We investigated the sequence of brain events in response to visual representations of disgusting food using a dynamic image analysis. Functional MRI was acquired in 30 healthy subjects while they were watching a movie showing disgusting food scenes interspersed with the scenes of appetizing food. Imaging analysis included the identification of the global brain response and the generation of frame-by-frame activation maps at the temporal resolution of 2 s. Robust activations were identified in brain structures conventionally associated with the experience of disgust, but our analysis also captured a variety of other brain elements showing distinct temporal evolutions. The earliest events included transient changes in the orbitofrontal cortex and visual areas, followed by a more durable engagement of the periaqueductal gray, a pivotal element in the mediation of responses to threat. A subsequent core phase was characterized by the activation of subcortical and cortical structures directly concerned not only with the emotional dimension of disgust (e.g., amygdalahippocampus, insula), but also with the regulation of food intake (e.g., hypothalamus). In a later phase, neural excitement extended to broad cortical areas, the thalamus and cerebellum, and finally to the Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.

Movies and narratives as naturalistic stimuli in neuroimaging

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Deontological morality can be experimentally enhanced by increasing disgust: A transcranial direct current stimulation study

“…Importantly, a neuroimaging study by Basile et al (2011) found that the induction of deontological guilt increased activation of brain areas implicated in the emotion of disgust, such as the insula (Pujol et al, 2018), whereas altruistic guilt elicited activation in the theory of mind network, particularly in medial prefrontal brain areas. Taken together, these studies suggest that the Lady Macbeth effect may be more strictly connected with deontological rather than altruistic guilt.…”

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