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The Interaction between Food Craving and Food Choice in Humans: A Computational Intracranial Electrophysiological Study

Award Number: R01DK143232
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/22/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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The Interaction between Food Craving and Food Choice in Humans: A Computational Intracranial Electrophysiological Study - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Obesity affects more than one third of Americans, and it is one of the top five risk factors for preventable death. Considerable data suggest that the selection of highly palatable, energy-dense food in response to cravings plays an important role in obesity. However, we still know little about how the subjective experience of food craving and decision-making about food rewards may mutually influence each other to promote entrenched cycles of high-energy consumption. Interventions that have attempted to uncouple cravings from eating decisions have not yet outperformed standard treatments. Precise characterization of the brain-based mechanisms that connect food craving to choice may critically inform more targeted treatments for obesity that can break this connection. The overarching goal of this R01 is to pinpoint the computational and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the interaction between food craving and decision-making by combining cutting-edge computational modeling and human intracranial recording approaches with multimodal assessments of eating. In Aim 1, we will identify the cognitive algorithms driving the relationship between food craving and decision- making. Two samples of adults with BMIs spanning the healthy weight to obese range (online: n=1,000; in- person: n=100) will complete a task that measures learning and decision-making about palatable food and non- food rewards as well as moment-to-moment changes in food craving levels. We will analyze data from this task using a novel model that mathematically describes how fluctuations in food craving intensity influence components of the decision-making process (e.g., the use of reward prediction errors to update the estimated value of a choice), and vice-versa. We predict that increases in food craving will accelerate value updating from food-specific prediction errors, and that positive prediction errors will, in turn, increase craving. In Aim 2, we will characterize the spatially and temporally precise neural dynamics that encode the interplay between food craving and decision-making. We will collect intracranial recordings from participants who are surgically implanted with stereotactic EEG (sEEG) electrodes for epilepsy monitoring (n=20) while they complete the same task as Aim 1 participants. We will test whether cravings and food-specific prediction errors are encoded by high-frequency activity in the insula and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), respectively, and whether the craving-choice interaction is encoded by information flow between the insula and OFC. To establish the clinical significance of craving-choice interactions, in Aim 3, we will test whether stronger bidirectional relationships between food craving and food decision-making are associated with more frequent eating in response to cravings and overeating, increased intake of highly palatable foods (measured by self-report and in-lab eating behavior), and higher BMIs. Findings from this work will deepen our mechanistic understanding of how food craving and decision-making mutually influence each other, and, by isolating neurocognitive targets for disrupting the connection between cravings and highly palatable food choices, pave the way for the development of new interventions for obesity.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $854,983 )
2026	2026	ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI	1 GUSTAVE L LEVY PL	NEW YORK	NY	10029	NEW YORK	USA	Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research	000	1	9/22/2026	NEW	$854,983
														Subtotal = $854,983

Grand Total All Awards = $854,983

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The Interaction between Food Craving and Food Choice in Humans: A Computational Intracranial Electrophysiological Study

Award Number: R01DK143232

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES & DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/22/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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