Overconsumption of so-called highly palatable (calorie-dense) foods is a contributing factor in obesity. Little is known, however, about the role of the reward system in this overconsumption. In this study, female participants learned to associate a cue with a food reward or a financial reward. When compared with controls, obese participants were found to have impairments in reward-based associative learning related to food but not to financial rewards, suggesting that altered food-based learning might play a part in obesity.
References
Zhang, Z. et al. Impaired associative learning with food rewards in obese women. Curr. Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.05.075 (2014)
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Lewis, S. Loving food too much. Nat Rev Neurosci 15, 564 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3804
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3804