Our research uses neuroimaging to investigate the brain's reward circuitry and its response to food stimuli with the aim of better understanding human eating behavior and susceptibility to obesity. We have found that the dopamine binding potential in the dorsolateral striatum is related to opportunistic eating behavior and obesity. Furthermore, blood glucose levels influence the activity of a brain region that processes taste information (i.e., the insula) in response to viewing food images. We also identifed the regions of the brain (i.e., the ventral pallidum and the orbitofrontal cortex) that support inferences about food pleasantness. These brain regions are likely to play a central role in the moment-to-moment hedonic inferences that influence food-related decision-making.
| Guo, J; Simmons, W K; Herscovitch, P et al. (2014) Striatal dopamine D2-like receptor correlation patterns with human obesity and opportunistic eating behavior. Mol Psychiatry 19:1078-84 |
| Hall, Kevin D; Hammond, Ross A; Rahmandad, Hazhir (2014) Dynamic interplay among homeostatic, hedonic, and cognitive feedback circuits regulating body weight. Am J Public Health 104:1169-75 |
| Simmons, W Kyle; Rapuano, Kristina M; Ingeholm, John E et al. (2014) The ventral pallidum and orbitofrontal cortex support food pleasantness inferences. Brain Struct Funct 219:473-83 |
| Simmons, W Kyle; Rapuano, Kristina M; Kallman, Seth J et al. (2013) Category-specific integration of homeostatic signals in caudal but not rostral human insula. Nat Neurosci 16:1551-2 |
