Individuals who find food-related images more motivationally relevant than erotic ones may eat twice as much as their opposites

The reality of “food porn”: Larger brain responses to food-related cues than to erotic images predict cue-induced eating. Francesco Versace et al. BioRxiv.org,  September 5, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1101/184838

Abstract: While some individuals can defy the lure of temptation, many others find appetizing food irresistible. Using event-related potentials, we showed that individuals who find food-related images more motivationally relevant than erotic ones ("sign-trackers") are more susceptible to cue-induced eating and, in the presence of a palatable food option, eat twice as much as individuals with the opposite brain reactivity profile ("goal-trackers"). These findings contribute to the understanding of the neurobiological basis of vulnerability to cue-induced behaviors.