Exploring partially shared valuation-related neural responses between abstract desirability and food incentive evaluation.

Motivational evaluation can generalize across diverse goals, while the incentive value of biologically relevant stimuli such as food is dynamically modulated by physiological need. The present study examined whether cross-category desirability evaluation under a non-deprived baseline condition and food incentive evaluation under experimentally manipulated Hunger and Satiety states show partially similar valuation-related neural responses within the same individuals. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while completing two complementary experiments: an abstract desirability judgment task involving objects, events, and persons, and a food evaluation task conducted under Hunger and Satiety states. In the DESIRE experiment, neural responses associated with desirable versus undesirable judgments were examined across three semantic categories to identify candidate neural patterns related to abstract desirability evaluation. In the HUNGER experiment, analyses examined both baseline food incentive value and hunger-related increases in food desirability. Exploratory whole-brain analyses identified activation patterns involving medial frontal and cingulate valuation-related regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), during abstract desirability evaluation. Exploratory maps in baseline food incentive-value evaluation analysis also implicated medial frontal and cingulate valuation-related regions. In addition, food items whose desirability increased under hunger showed greater activation than rating-stable food items in the left inferior orbitofrontal cortex, together with visual, cerebellar, and sensorimotor regions. However, formal conjunction-null analyses, ROI-based convergence analyses, whole-brain overlap analyses, and permutation-based tests did not provide evidence for a statistically robust shared neural representation across abstract desirability and food valuation. These findings suggest that cross-category desirability evaluation and homeostatically modulated food incentive evaluation may involve partially overlapping valuation-related processes while remaining sensitive to semantic context and physiological state. The results provide preliminary support for the possibility that abstract motivational cognition may partially engage valuation-related processes that are also involved in physiological incentive evaluation.