fMRI Study Claims Youthful Brains Recognize Food Logos

Researchers with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University
of Kansas Medical Center have published a study claiming that children’s
brain scans registered increased activation in the orbitofrontal precortex and
inferior prefrontal cortex when the subjects were shown familiar food logos.
Amanda Bruce, et al., “Branding and a child’s brain: an fMRI study of neural
responses to logos,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, September
2012. The study’s authors apparently used functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) with 17 healthy-weight children to gauge their neural reactions
to 60 food and 60 non-food logos as opposed to a baseline image
created to approximate the logos’ visual properties of color composition and
brightness.

“Food logos compared to baseline were associated with increased activation
in orbitofrontal cortex and inferior prefrontal cortex,” concluded the report.
“Compared to nonfood logos, food logos elicited increased activation in the
posterior cingulate cortex. Results confirmed that food logos activate some
brain regions in children known to be associated with motivation.”

The study’s authors urge further investigation into how children respond
“at the neural level” to marketing efforts. “Food logos may attract children’s
attention more than non-food logos,” they remarked. “This is significant
considering the vast majority of foods marketed to children are for unhealthy,
calorically dense foods… However, results from this preliminary study should
not be interpreted using reverse inference, but instead used to guide future
studies. Researchers should directly compare neural responses to food logos
compared to actual images of food.”