Leonardo Pimpini, Assistant Professor
In his doctoral research, Leo focused on the impact of mindset (hedonic vs health) and BMI on food-related cognition and behavior. This research employed various methodologies including fMRI, eye-tracking, and smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Building upon these findings, Leo’s research encompasses three distinct avenues: (a) examining neural representations of food and its characteristics using fMRI, (b) investigating attention towards food by means of eye-tracking and EEG, and (c) monitoring daily life eating and snacking behaviors through smartphone EMA. If you find these topics intriguing, please feel free to reach out to Leo for potential research collaborations, internship opportunities (data reanalysis), or thesis projects (literature review).
Publications that I’m most proud of
More complex than you might think: Neural representations of food reward value in obesity. Appetite, 2022.
Contrary to a dominant theory in the literature, we found that brain activity (level) in response to food stimuli does not reflect reward value (e.g., palatability, caloric content). This relationship is also not significantly influenced by BMI. Instead, it appears to be contingent on individuals’ attentional focus (hedonic vs health). Additionally, patterns of brain activity represent food palatability and caloric content, independently of BMI and attentional focus.
Food captures attention, but not the eyes: An eye tracking study on mindset and BMI’s Impact on attentional capture by high-caloric visual food stimuli. Journal of Cognition, 2022.
Eye movements’ analysis showed no significant effects, while response latencies indicated an attentional capture by food, independent of BMI or mindset. Food intake was influenced by mindset, that is, participants ate more in the hedonic than the health condition, but only when the hedonic was induced in the second session.
Effects of a health versus hedonic mindset on daily-life snacking behavior. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 2023.
Contrary to our hypotheses, mindset did not influence snacking behaviors. Instead, both craving and intake significantly decreased over time – independently of mindset – while compliance remained constant. Additionally, degree and amount of craving was most pronounced in the late afternoon, and degree of craving correlated negatively with self‐control (trait).
