Fig. 6: Prefrontal and limbic food networks exhibit differential relationships across PSC task conditions.
We examined how the neural response to food images in the PSC task was modulated by participants’ ratings. A Neural responses within the Prefrontal network were positively related to ratings during the Self-Control condition, and negatively related to ratings during the Pleasantness condition. In contrast, neural responses within the Limbic network were positively related to ratings during both the Pleasantness and Self-Control conditions. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. Boxplot lines signify distribution medians. Boxplot bottoms are distribution lower quartiles, and tops are upper quartiles. B Whole-brain analyses of both task conditions identified a number of limbic cortical and sub-cortical brain regions whose response to food pictures was positively related to ratings, though some regions such as the mid-insula, ventral pallidum, and lateral OFC were more active during one condition or another. NB: In this panel, FWE-corrected brain regions are ‘highlighted’, and regions that did not meet the statistical thresholds are shown for illustrative purposes only, to demonstrate the similarity of response profiles across conditions53. C A whole-brain analysis contrasting the task conditions specifically identified regions of the prefrontal and parietal cortex whose rating-modulated response to food pictures was significantly greater during the Self-Control condition. vmPFC – ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex. PCC – Posterior Cingulate Cortex.
