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Neural responses to dynamic versus static food cues: A pilot functional MRI study.

Overview

Authors: Dabin Yeum1, Susan J Melhorn1, Cindy Lao1, Cole E Anderson2, Swati R Levendovszky2, Ellen A Schur1, Leticia E Sewaybricker1
ORCID iDs: Dabin Yeum
  1. Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
  2. Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Institutions: University of Washington (United States)
Journal: PloS one, volume 21, issue 10, article e0361667
Dates: received 28 February 2026; accepted 13 October 2026; published online 28 October 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0361667 · PMID 42949946 · PMCID PMC13716230 · OpenAlex W7224116950
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only (how the code is found and verified)
Categories: fMRI (modality), human (organism)
Methods: Statistics, fMRI & imaging
MeSH: Brain*, Cues*, Food*, Magnetic Resonance Imaging*, Adult, Appetite, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Male, Overweight, Photic Stimulation, Pilot Projects, Reward, Young Adult (* major topic)
Topic: Regulation of Appetite and Obesity (Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: American Heart Association; University of Washington; National Institutes of Health; Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 33 references in the paper

Abstract

Contemporary food environments are dominated by dynamic food cues such as moving videos of food, which may engage neural pathways differently than static images. Yet most neuroimaging studies of food cue reactivity have relied on static images. This preliminary study aimed to explore neural responses in reward- and appetite-regulating brain regions to dynamic versus static presentations of high- and low-calorie food stimuli. Seventeen healthy adults (8 with healthy weight and 9 with overweight; mean age = 32.7 ± 10.1y; 53% female) completed a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm involving dynamic (video) and static (image) presentations of food and non-food object stimuli. Two fMRI runs were conducted: high-calorie food and object cues were presented in Run 1 and low-calorie food and object cues were presented in Run 2. Stimulus format (dynamic vs. static) was manipulated within each run, and analyses of format effects were conducted separately for the high- and low-calorie conditions. Primary analyses examined whether stimulus format (dynamic vs. static) elicited differential activation of visual food cues relative to non-food objects, with high-calorie and low-calorie conditions tested separately. Regions of interest included a priori reward- and appetite-related regions, including the amygdala, dorsal striatum, ventral striatum, insula, and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area. Secondary whole-brain analyses and exploratory comparisons by weight status were conducted. Stimulus format did not significantly modulate activation to food cues relative to objects in a priori reward- and appetite-related regions for either high- or low-calorie foods. Whole-brain analyses showed that the dynamic-versus-static high-calorie food contrast (relative to objects) elicited greater activation in the right occipital fusiform gyrus. Frontal, insular, occipital, and postcentral activation was observed to the dynamic high-calorie food-versus-object contrast. Exploratory analyses showed that, for high-calorie foods, individuals with overweight showed greater dynamic-versus-static food-related activation (relative to objects) in the dorsal striatum than individuals with healthy weight; for low-calorie foods, individuals with healthy weight showed greater dynamic-versus-static food-related activation (relative to objects) in the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area than individuals with overweight. In this pilot study, effect sizes for dynamic-versus-static differences in reward-related regions did not reach statistical significance, and thus findings should be interpreted with caution given the limited sample size. Dynamic cues were well tolerated and showed similar appeal compared with static images, while engaging broader networks related to perception, attention, and salience. Larger studies and designs that randomize the food cue type are needed to confirm and extend these observations.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data and to no code of its authors: see the Data section.

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Data

Datasets cited

Data Availability

The minimal data set (de-identified, aggregated) will be available upon publication at Zenodo via 10.5281/zenodo.19703232.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 October 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 15 MeSH terms, 6 funders, 33 references.

Cite

This paper

Yeum, D., Melhorn, S. J., Lao, C., Anderson, C. E., Levendovszky, S. R., Schur, E. A., & Sewaybricker, L. E. (2026). Neural responses to dynamic versus static food cues: A pilot functional MRI study. PloS one, 21(10), e0361667. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361667

BibTeX

@article{yeum2026neural,
author = {Yeum, Dabin and Melhorn, Susan J and Lao, Cindy and Anderson, Cole E and Levendovszky, Swati R and Schur, Ellen A and Sewaybricker, Leticia E},
title = {{Neural responses to dynamic versus static food cues: A pilot functional MRI study}},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
volume = {21},
number = {10},
pages = {e0361667},
publisher = {PLOS},
issn = {1932-6203},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0361667},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361667},
pmid = {42949946},
pmcid = {PMC13716230}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Yeum, Dabin
AU - Melhorn, Susan J
AU - Lao, Cindy
AU - Anderson, Cole E
AU - Levendovszky, Swati R
AU - Schur, Ellen A
AU - Sewaybricker, Leticia E
TI - Neural responses to dynamic versus static food cues: A pilot functional MRI study
T2 - PloS one
J2 - PLoS One
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
VL - 21
IS - 10
SP - e0361667
SN - 1932-6203
PB - PLOS
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0361667
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361667
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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