International Journal of Obesity (2014) 38, 1180–1185

& 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 0307-0565/14

www.nature.com/ijo

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Differences in neural activation to depictions of physical exercise
and sedentary activity: an fMRI study of overweight and lean
Chinese women
T Jackson, X Gao and H Chen

OBJECTIVE: Neuroimaging studies have documented differences in neural responses to food cues in obese versus lean samples
but little is known about weight status differences in responsiveness to other key features of obesogenic environments, particularly
cues reflecting physical activity. To address this gap, patterns of activation related to visual depictions of sedentary activities and
vigorous physical exercise were assessed in overweight (O-W) and average weight (A-W) samples via functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI).
METHODS: Thirteen O-W and 13 A-W Chinese women were instructed to imagine engaging in 90 physical exercise activities and
90 sedentary activities and to watch 90 landscape images presented during three runs of an fMRI scan within a cross-sectional
design.
RESULTS: Behavioral results indicated O-W women endorsed more negative attitudes toward physical activity than A-W did.
Imaging analyses indicated that body mass index had a significant negative association with activation of the right putamen and a
positive correlation with activation in the right medial frontal gyrus, specifically Brodmann Area 10 in the exercise–sedentary image
contrast condition. For the sedentary–control contrast, significantly less activation in an insula area related to negative affect was
observed for the O-W group. Finally, for the exercise–control contrast, O-W women also displayed comparatively weaker activation
in a cingulate gyrus area implicated in kinesthetic memory of body movements and the re-experiencing real events.
CONCLUSION: Together, results supported contentions that exposure to depictions of physical exercise corresponds to reduced
activation of reward centers and heightened activation in regions associated with negative affect regulation among O-W women
compared with leaner peers.

International Journal of Obesity (2014) 38, 1180–1185; doi:10.1038/ijo.2013.245

Keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging; physical exercise; sedentary behavior; overweight; reward; negative affect

INTRODUCTION related to appetite control9 and, possibly, attenuating responses

Features of obesogenic environments including increasingly
sedentary lifestyles and the abundance of readily available foods,
particularly high fat, high calorie, highly processed food, have
been implicated as key influences on the obesity pandemic in
developed countries1,2 and burgeoning obesity rates in rapidly
developing countries.3,4 Associated neuroimaging studies have
linked obesity to activation of reward centers in the dorsal
striatum region including the caudate body and putamen in
response to visual food cues or anticipation of food delivery as
well as blunted responses in some of the same areas during
feeding that may contribute to overeating.5–7
To date, however, researchers have not examined whether
potential weight status differences in neural activation patterns
are also apparent in response to cues for physical exercise and
sedentary activity. This is a potentially important focus in light of
(1) links between rising obesity rates and the transition from
employment based on hard physical labor to sedentary, mentally
taxing work and (2) neurocognitive underpinnings that physical
activity and eating share.8 Aside from increasing energy
expenditure, moderate to vigorous physical activity contributes
to weight control by sharpening hunger–satiety mechanisms
to visual food cues in brain regions involved in food intake
regulation.10 Conversely, modern sedentary activities including
sitting, television-viewing, videogame-playing and cognitive
work use few calories and actually promote overconsumption
of food.11
Despite the lack of research on potential neural activation
differences between overweight (O-W) and lean groups, reliable
behavior differences in physical activity patterns, preferences and
attitudes provide bases for plausible hypotheses. For example,
O-W groups spend more time in sedentary activity compared with
leaner peers who reportedly engage in more moderate or
vigorous physical activity.12–14 Complementing this pattern,
average weight (A-W) children and adults express stronger
preferences for moderate or vigorous physical activities (for
example, sports), whereas O-W peers may prefer sedentary activity
or alternatives to physical activity.15,16 In sum, behavior evidence
for weight status differences in the reward value of physical
activity suggest that compared with lean groups, O-W/obese
groups experience less activation of neural reward centers in
response to physical exercise cues or, possibly, more activation of
reward centers in response to sedentary activity cues.

Key Laboratory of Personality and Cognition, Faculty of Psychological Science, Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing, China. Correspondence: Professor H Chen or
Professor T Jackson, Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing 400715, China.
E-mail: chenhg@swu.edu.cn or toddjackson@hotmail.com
Received 25 June 2013; revised 28 November 2013; accepted 13 December 2013; accepted article preview online 24 December 2013; advance online publication, 14 January 2014

On the other hand, behavioral evidence also suggests exposure
to physical exercise cues results in comparatively stronger
activation of emotion centers implicated in experiences of
negative affect (that is, threat/apprehension, pain, social ‘pain’)
within O-W/obese groups compared with leaner controls. O-W/
obese groups more typically have negative attitudes toward
physical activity including heightened self-consciousness, stigma-
tization, embarrassment and intimidation about exercising in front
of peers or physically fit people.17–22 The association between
negative attitudes toward exercise and obesity is also underlined
by evidence that O-W/obese groups report more pain, physical
discomfort and perceived exertion during physical activity than do
A-W peers.23–25 In fact, perceived exercise difficulty, but not
physiological exertion, predicts weight regain following weight-
loss intervention among the obese.26 Together, these findings
suggest that exposure to cues for physical exercise results in
stronger neural activation in areas associated with processing
negative affect, apprehension, social pain and pain, including the
anterior midcingulate cortex, posterior midcingulate cortex, insula
and amygdala in O-W groups.27–29
In sum, the correspondence between food over-consumption
and sedentary activity as well as variations in activity patterns and
preferences of lean versus O-W/obese groups suggest plausible
competing hypotheses about weight status differences in neural
activation to visual depictions of physical exercise and sedentary
activity. On one hand, following from research on neural
responses to food cues and behavioral studies on activity
preferences, O-W participants might show weaker activation than
their leaner peers do in structures associated with reward (that is,
nucleus accumbens, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsal and ventral
striatum) in response to physical exercise cues and/or stronger
activation in these areas in response to depictions of sedentary
behavior. Conversely, evidence of more negative emotional
responses to physical exercise within O-W/obese groups might
reflect increased activation in anterior cingulate cortex areas
related to processing threat, negative affect, social pain and pain
during exposure to cues for vigorous exercise.
In this study, fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) was
performed to test these hypotheses. Specifically, effects of average
versus O-W status on neural activation to physical activity cues
were assessed in between-groups analyses of exercise–landscape,
sedentary activity–landscape and exercise–sedentary contrast
conditions as well as correlation analyses of associations between
body mass index (BMI) and activation within each condition.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants
Participants were 13 lean (A-W) women (aged 20–24 years, mean ¼ 21.69
years, s.d. ¼ 1.18; BMI range: 17.04–22.04, mean ¼ 18.67, s.d. ¼ 1.31) and
13 O-W women (aged 19–25 years, M ¼ 22.15 years, s.d. ¼ 1.72; BMI range:
23.33–31.63, M ¼ 25.32, s.d. ¼ 2.23) drawn from Southwest University
(SWU) in Chongqing, China. All participants were right-handed non-
smokers, with no reported past/current neurological or psychiatric illness,
normal or corrected-to-normal vision and normal color vision as assessed
by basic color tests.
Materials
Demographics. Aside from age and year in university, education levels of
each parent were assessed using 1 ¼ less than elementary school
completion, 2 ¼ elementary school completion, 3 ¼ middle school comple-
tion, 4 ¼ high school completion, 5 ¼ undergraduate/college completion
and 6 ¼ professional degree completion. BMI was calculated from
objectively measured height and weight.
Positive Attitudes Toward Physical Activity Scale (PATPAS).30 The eight-item
PATPAS assesses perceived benefits of physical activity. Items (for example,
‘If I were to be physically active on most days, it would help me cope with
stress’, ‘y, it would help me make new friends’) were rated between 1 ¼
strongly disagree and 5 ¼ strongly agree. The PATPAS has a univariate
& 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited
Neural responses to exercise and sedentary depictions
T Jackson et al
1181
structure and significant correlations with intentions to engage in physical
activity as well as physical activity levels.30,31 The scale had acceptable
internal consistency in the current sample (a ¼ 0.76).
Negative Attitudes Toward Physical Activity Scale (NATPAS).32 This eight-
item self-report scale assesses perceived negative experiences and
consequences of physical activity. These items (for example, ‘If I were to
be physically active on most days, it would be painful’, ‘y it would be
embarrassing’) were also rated from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly
agree. The scale is related to but distinct from the PATPAS and predicts
physical activity levels even after controlling for the PATPAS.32 In this
sample, the NATPAS had an alpha of a ¼ 0.85.
Physical and Sedentary Activity Images. Visual depictions used included
90 photographs of vigorous physical exercise (for example, running,
jumping and playing tennis) and 90 photographs of sedentary activities
(for example, lying down on a sofa, sitting on a chair or in front of a desk).
Ninety photographs of landscapes were used as the baseline as per past
work.33–35 Images were downloaded from free internet websites. One
month before fMRI scans began, 15 undergraduate women not involved in
the study rated all images for valence, arousal and complexity on
five-Likert scales. Ratings for the image types did not differ for valence
(F (2, 28) ¼ 0.02, P ¼ 0.982), arousal (F (2, 28) ¼ 2.99, P ¼ 0.067) or
complexity (F (2, 28) ¼ 0.43, P ¼ 0.640).
Procedure
Following approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee at South-
west University, participants were recruited via on-campus advertisements.
Subsequently, 63 undergraduate women engaged in the initial screening
phase. After reading a general overview of the study and signing an informed
consent, participants completed individually administered self-report mea-
sures of age, handedness, attitudes toward physical activity and history of
neurological or psychiatric illness. Height and weight were also measured by
an experimenter and vision tests were completed. After a 2-week delay to
introduce a lag before the experiment, appointments were made with
women randomly selected from a leaner BMI subgroup (BMI between 17 and
22.9) and O-W subgroup based on the criterion (BMI423) at which obesity-
related diseases increase dramatically in Asia-Pacific samples.36
Selected women were asked to consume regular meals but refrain from
drinking caffeinated beverages for 12 h before the experiment. Scanning
sessions occured 1.5–3.0 h after a regular meal. Visual images were
presented in a block design. The experiment comprised three runs, each
having three blocks of each image type. Each block consisted of 10 images
presented for 1.5 s each with an inter-stimulus interval of 0.5 s. Before and
after each block, a white fixation cross was presented in the middle of a
screen for 16 s. On this basis, each run had a 340 s duration.
Participants were instructed to view each exercise and sedentary activity
image closely, vividly imagining themselves performing the depicted
activity, including related body gestures or movements. Conversely, they
were instructed simply to watch each landscape images. After their scan,
participants were debriefed about the research purposes and paid 50 Yuan
as compensation for their time.
Imaging data acquisition
Images were acquired in a 3 T Siemens TRIO MRI scanner. Functional data
comprised 591 volumes acquired with T2*-weighted gradient echo planar
imaging sequences. We obtained 32 echo planar images per volume
sensitive to blood oxygenation level-dependent contrast (TR ¼ 2000 ms;
TE ¼ 30 ms; 3  3 mm in-plane resolution; FOV (field of view) ¼ 192). Slices
were acquired in an inter-leaved order and oriented parallel to the AC–PC
plane, with thickness of 3 mm, 0.99 mm gap. High-resolution T1-weighted
3D fast-field echo sequences were obtained for anatomical reference (176
slices, TR ¼ 1900 ms; TE ¼ 2.52 ms; slice thickness ¼ 1 mm; FOV ¼ 250; voxel
size ¼ 1  1  1 mm).
Imaging data analyses
Data were analyzed using Brain Voyager QX v2.3 software (Brain
Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands). After preprocessing, three main
contrasts were specified per single-participants analysis: (1) exercise vs
landscape, (2) sedentary activity vs landscape and (3) exercise vs sedentary
activity. A general linear model37 generated statistical parametric maps.
Following other published accounts,38,39 main effects were considered
significant using a whole-brain false discovery rate of Po0.05 and a
minimum cluster size of 10 voxels. Resultant single participant contrast
images were then entered into second-level random effect-group analyses
International Journal of Obesity (2014) 1180 – 1185
 Neural responses to exercise and sedentary depictions
T Jackson et al
1182
for each of the corresponding contrasts. Across participants, statistical
parametric maps were calculated using a hierarchical random effects
model and RFX two-way 2  2 analysis of variance;40 Weight Status was the
between-groups factor and Image Type was the within-participants
variable. For specific interaction effects, an uncorrected statistical
threshold criterion of Po0.005 was employed with minimum cluster size
of 3 voxels.7,41 In addition, to identify whether brain activations in the three
contrasts had linear associations with individual differences in body
weight, BMI was entered as a covariate in correlation analyses within the
entire sample and relations between betas and this external covariate were
evaluated as a whole brain analysis. On the basis of the past work,6,41
significant correlations were identified using an uncorrected Po0.005 and
a minimum cluster size of 3 voxels.
RESULTS
Weight Status Differences on Demographics and Attitudes Toward
Physical Activity
Supporting the integrity of the weight status group distinction,
the O-W group had a significantly higher average BMI than did the
A-W group, t (1, 24) ¼ 9.27, Po0.001. Conversely, these groups did
not differ in terms of age, t (1, 24) ¼ 0.66, P ¼ 0.434, education
levels of mother, w2 (2, N ¼ 26) ¼ 6.69, P ¼ 0.15, and father,
w2 (2, N ¼ 26) ¼ 1.39, P ¼ 0.71 or participant year in university,
t (1, 24) ¼ 0.77, P ¼ 0.45. One-way analyses of variance indicated
that O-W women had significantly more negative attitudes toward
physical activity than did A-W women (F (1, 24) ¼ 4.11, P ¼ 0.05)
while weight status groups did not differ on positive attitudes to
physical activity (F (1, 24) ¼ 0.04, P ¼ 0.85).
Main Effects of Image Type
Although peripheral to the main research focus, numerous main
effect differences emerged for Image Type within the entire
sample (Table 1). The exercise vs landscape contrast revealed
differential activation in the left and right frontal cortex,
temporal cortex, amygdala, putamen and right thalamus. The
sedentary activity vs landscape contrast highlighted differences
in activation of the left and right superior temporal gyrus and
amygdala. Finally, for the exercise vs sedentary activity contrast,
activation differences in the left and right post-central gyrus were
observed.
Weight Status and Activity Image Contrast Interactions
In second-level random effects group analyses of competing
hypotheses (Table 2), the O-W group showed significantly weaker
left insula (BA 13) activation and marginally stronger activation
(Po0.006) in the middle frontal cortex (BA 6) compared with A-W
women in the sedentary activity–landscape contrast condition.
The exercise–landscape contrast also corresponded to weaker
activation in left cingulate gyrus (BA 23) among O-W women
than A-W women. Finally, for the exercise–sedentary activity
contrast, no significant weight status group differences emerged
(all P’s 40.005).
Correlations between BMI and Activation within Activity Image
Contrast Conditions
Correlation analyses within the entire sample revealed a
positive correlation between BMI and activation of the inferior
temporal gyrus and an inverse association with putamen
activation in the exercise–landscape contrast. Furthermore,
BMI was positively correlated with activation in the medial
frontal gyrus (BA 10) in the exercise–sedentary activity contrast
(Figure 1). No other associations with BMI were significant
(all P’s 40.005).

Table 1. Neural activation differences between physical activity image contrasts for the entire sample (n ¼ 26)

Region L/R Brodmann area Talairach coordinates t Cluster size

x y z

Physical exercise–landscape
Superior frontal gyrus L 6  18  13 61 5.00 1137
Middle frontal gyrus R 6 21  10 58 4.88 511
Middle temporal gyrus L 37  45  61 7 8.73 21 016
Middle temporal gyrus R 37 48  64 4 10.41 30 833
Inferior parietal lobule L 40  33  43 49 5.75 3164
Cingulate gyrus L 24 3 1 40 4.62 733
Limbic lobe, uncus R 36 27 2  29 6.13 374
Amygdala L  33 1  23 5.78 1760
Amygdala R 27 1  14 6.42 767
Putamen L  24 5 13 5.16 1292
Putamen R 21 2 13 4.77 632
Thalamus, pulvinar R 15  25 4 6.23 715

Sedentary activity–landscape
Inferior frontal gyrus R 45 48 29 7 5.04 1146
Superior temporal gyrus L 22  42  55 13 7.81 9458
Superior temporal gyrus R 22 48 1 5 5.16 480
Middle temporal gyrus R 37 48  64 4 8.81 19 358
Fusiform gyrus L 20  39  40  14 6.64 1649
Amygdala L  27 1  14 5.75 1069
Amygdala R 27 4  14 5.78 727
Thalamus, pulvinar R 15  25 7 7.00 679

Physical activity–sedentary activity

Postcentral gyrus L 1  54  26 42 5.78 550
Postcentral gyrus R 1 57  25 40 5.70 370
Using a whole-brain false discovery rate of Po0.05 and a minimum cluster size of 10 voxels.

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Table 2. Neural activation differences for physical activity image contrasts between average and O-W groups (N ¼ 26)

Region L/R Brodmann area Talairach coordinates t P Cluster size

x y z

Exercise–landscape: O-W4average
Cingulate gyrus L 23 1  12 28  3.67 0.001 123

Sedentary activity–landscape: average4O-W

Middle frontal gyrus R 6 30 5 52 2.96 0.006 126

O-W4average
Insula L 13  27  28 16  4.46 o0.001 90
Insula L 13  30  37 19  4.32 o0.001 89
Abbreviation: O-W, overweight. Po0.005 uncorrected for multiple comparisons using a minimum cluster size of 3 voxels.
Inferior Temporal Gyrus (42, -67, -2)

Putamen (18, 20, -5)

r = 0.47

BMI BMI

r = -0.62
Medial Frontal Gyrus (-9, 56, 7; BA10)

r = 0.61

BMI

Figure 1. Activation in regions of the inferior temporal gyrus (a) and putamen (b) in the Exercise–Landscape contrast as a function of BMI, with
corresponding graphs of blood oxygenation level-dependent signals from peaks in each region. Activation in BA10 of the medial frontal gyrus
(c) in the exercise–sedentary activity contrast as a function of BMI, with a corresponding graph of parameter estimates from that peak.
Uncorrected Po0.005 was employed with minimum cluster size of 3 voxels (Talairach coordinates).

DISCUSSION this result indicates susceptibility to O-W/obesity is related not

This study may be the first to evaluate and identify neural only to responsiveness to environmental cues that facilitate calorie
activation differences between O-W women and leaner controls in consumption but also to increasingly diminished incentive
response to visual depictions of exercise and sedentary activity. activation to environmental cues reflecting energy expenditures.
Consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to physical activity This pattern is also somewhat consistent with the more
depictions would result in weight status differences in reward area negative attitudes toward physical activity among O-W women
activation, correlation analyses revealed activation of the right in this study and evidence of weaker preferences for physical
putamen was significantly reduced as participant BMIs increased activities such as sports in other O-W/obese groups compared
within the exercise–landscape contrast condition. The finding with A-W peers.15–16 Perhaps reduced reward value of exercise
extends past studies demonstrating exposure to food images depictions among heavier respondents helps to explain why
results in increased activation of dorsal striatum structures related O-W groups engage in less moderate to vigorous exercise than
to habit learning, addiction, positive reward expectancies and leaner groups do.12–14 As such, interventions that increase the
exposure to cues with increased incentive value among obese reward value of increased energy expenditures may have utility
groups relative to lean cohorts.5–7 In concert with those findings, in reducing O-W.

& 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited International Journal of Obesity (2014) 1180 – 1185
 Neural responses to exercise and sedentary depictions
T Jackson et al
1184
Regarding the hypothesis that weight status differences in brain
centers associated with apprehension, negative affect, social pain
or pain might emerge in response to exercise images, O-W women
did not show more activation in specific anterior cingulate cortex
areas implicated in intense negative affect states including fear or
anticipation and delivery of aversive stimuli,28,29 despite having
more negative attitudes toward physical activity. However, BMI
did have a positive association with activation of the right medial
frontal gyrus, specifically BA 10, in the exercise–sedentary image
contrast condition. Although the rostral prefrontal cortex sub-
sumes diverse functions, Gilbert et al.’s42 meta-analysis indicated
that studies of mentalizing (that is, attending to one’s own
emotions and mental states) were disproportionately related to
medial activations, whereas lateral activations disproportionately
involved memory functions. As well, the middle frontal gyrus has
been linked to the regulation of negative affect.43–45 For example,
Grecucci et al.44 found that during reappraisals of another’s offer
as more or less negative in the ultimatum game, participants
showed significant activations in the inferior and middle frontal
gyrus. Carter et al.43 observed the capacity to learn which arbitrary
visual cues resulted in receiving aversive electrical stimuli was
related to activity in bilateral middle frontal gyrus. As such, these
results align with behavioral evidence of negative attitudes or
experiences related to exercise in O-W/obese compared with A-W
groups.19,21,22
On a related note, in the sedentary–landscape contrast
condition, O-W women showed comparatively weaker activation
in the left posterior insula (BA 13), another area implicated in the
anticipation and experience of negative affect,46,47 fear and pain
processing.48,49 Although at odds with our hypothesis that the
O-W might show stronger reward activation during exposure to
sedentary images, decreased responsiveness in this area,
compared with leaner controls, during exposure to sedentary
images might have reflected comparatively more negative
reinforcement (that is, reductions in aversive affective experiences)
in the O-W group. From this perspective, behavioral evidence of
preferences for sedentary activity or alternatives to physical
activity15,16 and increased time spent in sedentary activities
among the O-W/obese can be reframed as a partial reflection of
reductions in negative emotional reactions to increased physical
activity rather than purely as a result of increased reward value
such activities might engender. Although interpreting the
meaning of an activated area by drawing upon research
suggesting functions for that area is a sensible approach to
tackling topics about which little is known regarding neural
mechanisms,50 confirmation is now needed in replications that
explicitly test relations between left posterior insula activation and
attitudes toward sedentary activity in O-W/obese subgroups.
Finally, two weight status differences in activation emerged that
were not based on predictions. Specifically, O-W women showed
significantly weaker activation than leaner women did within the
posterior ventral cingulate cortex (left BA 23) in the exercise–
landscape contrast and marginally stronger middle frontal gyrus
(BA 6) activation in the sedentary–landscape contrast, both of
which are areas implicated in motor learning and movement.51–54
Activation of the posterior ventral cingulate cortex is also related
to autobiographical memory, kinesthetic memory of body
movements, storage of motion velocity, visuospatial orientation
and navigation of the body in environmental space.55–58 Vann
et al.59 reported areas 23 and 31 are more active during retrieval of
real than imagined events, contending that re-experiencing real
events modulates activity in this area.
Because (1) participants were required to imagine engaging in
each of depicted physical activity rather than passively observing
them and (2) O-W/obese groups participate less frequently in
moderate or vigorous physical activity,13,14 one hypothesis that
may explain the finding is that during exposure, leaner women
were more able to access memories of depicted exercise activities
International Journal of Obesity (2014) 1180 – 1185
and evoke associated movements than O-W women were. Hence,
while this effect was not directly representative of differences in
reward value or negative affect related to exercise, possibly it
reflected a weight status difference in rates of participation in
depicted physical exercise activities.
Notwithstanding its novel focus and findings, the main
limitations of the study must be noted. First, because only women
were assessed, generalizations regarding specific areas of activa-
tion cannot be made to men. Second, despite use of an O-W cutoff
indicative of obesity-related disease risk in Asian populations,33
the strength and number of potential activation differences could
be even greater in comparisons of obese versus A-W groups.
In light of significant correlations between BMI and activation
patterns, extensions to morbidly obese samples should evaluate
hypothesized activation patterns more fully. Third, given the cross-
sectional study design, it is not clear whether weight status
differences preceded or followed differences in activation. Future
use of longitudinal designs can elucidate this issue. Fourth,
although this study linked O-W to having relatively more negative
attitudes toward physical activity, reduced incentive/reward area
activation and increased activation of areas implicated in negative
affect regulation, evaluation of relations between activation
patterns and objectively measured physical activity is an
important avenue of future work that may clarify further the
functional significance of activation patterns. Finally, following
from landmark studies highlighting implications of neural
responses to food images versus food ingestion for obesity,6,7
effects of weight status on activation to visual images of sedentary
activity and exercise do not necessarily reflect activation patterns
related to anticipation of or recovery from acute exercise bouts.
These are key issues for extensions.
CONCLUSION
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate
weight status differences in patterns of neural activation
associated with exposure to visual portrayals of exercise and
sedentary activity. Preliminary support was provided for conten-
tions that visual depictions of physical exercise correspond to
reduced activation of specific reward centers and increased
activation in regions linked to negative affect among O-W women
compared with leaner peers. Furthermore, exercise–landscape and
sedentary activity–landscape contrasts revealed associations
between O-W status and reduced activation in centers implicated
in motor learning/re-experiencing events and negative affect,
respectively. Extensions to morbidly obese groups may illuminate,
more fully, links between weight status and neural activation in
response to visual cues for exercise and sedentary activity.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by grants (no. 31170981, no. 31371037 and
no. 31100758) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Education
Ministry of China, a Chongqing 100 Persons International Fellowship and the BaYu
Scholar Program of the Chongqing Government.
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