{
  "abstract": "Subjective values of foods guide dietary decisions. Yet, how the brain computes such values from visual input remains unclear. Here, we show that visual food valuation relies on higher-level conceptual representations captured by a multimodal vision-language deep neural network model. Using food images and human ratings (N = 194 and 200), we found that a vision-language model predicted subjective value more accurately than vision-only models. Representational analyses demonstrated that, compared with the vision-only model, the vision-language model preferentially encoded higher-level food attributes, including perceived healthiness, while encoding less image-level visual information. Multivariate analyses of fMRI data (N = 31) showed that embedding features from both models corresponded to activity patterns along the visual pathways. Critically, vision-language features showed greater correspondence than vision-only features in the fusiform gyrus, a downstream region of the ventral visual pathway. These findings suggest that higher-level conceptual representations link visual food processing to subjective valuation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Hitotsubashi University"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Y. Aoki"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Toyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Sugawara"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Kojima"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Yamashita"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "S. SUZUKI"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t9g6y8f5yj8z.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.11.01.763512",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763512v1.full",
  "id": "0t9g6y8f5yj8z",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763512v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763512v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t9g6y8f5yj8z.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:08Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.11.01.763512",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.01.763512v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Vision-language representations link food perception to subjective valuation",
  "title_text": "Vision-language representations link food perception to subjective valuation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T00:21:10Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t9g6y8f5yj8z",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}