Objectives
During the anticipatory stage of swallowing, sensory stimuli related to food play an important role in the behavioral and neurophysiological aspects of swallowing. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between food preferences and oscillatory brain activity during the anticipatory stage of swallowing. Therefore, to clarify the effect of individual food preferences on oscillatory brain activity, we investigated the relationship between food preferences and oscillatory brain activity during the observation of food images.
Methods
Here we examined this relationship using visual food stimuli and electroencephalography (EEG). Nineteen healthy participants were presented 150 images of food in a random order and asked to rate their subjective preference for that food on a 4‐point scale ranging from 1 (don't want to eat) to 4 (want to eat). Oscillation analysis was performed using a Hilbert transformation for bandpass‐filtered EEG signals.
Results
The results showed that the oscillatory beta band power on C3 significantly decreased in response to favorite foods compared to disliked food.
Conclusion
This result suggests that food preferences may impact oscillatory brain activity related to swallowing during the anticipatory stage of swallowing. This finding may lead to the development of new swallowing rehabilitation techniques for patients with dysphagia by applying food preferences to modulate oscillatory brain activity.
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