Visual Cues Override Fullness

A controlled EEG experiment finds that images of snack foods light up reward circuits even after people eat to fullness: subjective desire and actual eating fall, but brain reward responses persist. This suggests sensory and media cues can dissociate neural valuation from physiological satiety. — If visual food cues routinely re‑activate reward circuitry despite satiety, regulators and public‑health campaigns should treat advertising, platform feeds, and in‑home media as structural drivers of overconsumption rather than mere matters of individual willpower.