From attributes to value: Neural correlates of a front-of-package label on food decision-making – An fMRI study

Abstract

Diet-related chronic illnesses, such as obesity and diabetes, pose major global health challenges. To promote healthier choices, policymakers have introduced nudges like front-of-package labels such as the Nutri-Score, which simplify nutritional information. While previous research has examined the impact of front-of-package labels on product valuation via reward and cognitive control pathways, the neural mechanisms underlying attribute-specific changes in food perception (e.g., healthiness, tastiness) remain unclear. In this study, the impact of a Nutri-Score derived color-coded frame on the decision domains , perceived healthiness, perceived tastiness, and willingness-to-pay as a proxy for subjective value, was investigated. Forty healthy participants (28 females, age: M = 23.8 years, SD = 3.1 years) rated 63 food products in two conditions: without (control) and with (treatment) a color-coded frame while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. The investigation focused on how the color-coded frame alters all three decision domains on a behavioral but also on the neural level. Additionally, the variation in neural and behavioral responses depending on the frame color was investigated. Overall, our results show that the color-coded frame significantly influenced WTP, healthiness, and tastiness ratings, with corresponding increases in neural activation in reward-related (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), cognitive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), and homeostatic (thalamus) regions. Healthiness perception involved regions associated with value-based processing (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), as well as cognitive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) when the color-coded frame was present, whereas tastiness perception engaged a network including the insula, brain regions related to reward valuation (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), and regions associated with cognitive control. These findings suggest that the color-coded frame, used here as a proxy for the Nutri-Score, influences food choices by modulating attribute-specific valuation and interacting with homeostatic mechanisms, rather than directly altering overall value computation. Understanding how external cues integrate with internal physiological signals to guide food choices may inform interventions aimed at improving dietary behavior and public health outcomes.