Seminar – Anne Roefs

On 24 September 2026 at 10:30

Venue: CARF

Pr. Anne Roefs
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience of Abnormal Eating
Maastricht University, NL
https://eatlab.nl/researchers/anne-roefs/

Invited by Chantal Delaquis and Syvlie Berthoz (INCIA)

Title

Can the brain be ‘blamed’ for obesity?

Abstract

The dominant view in the literature is that increased neural reactivity to viewing high-caloric palatable foods (anticipatory food reward) in the mesocorticolimbic system is a stable, specific characteristic of people with obesity. In this talk, I will argue that this viewpoint may not be justified, and propose that the neural response to food stimuli is dynamic, and in synchrony with the current motivational and cognitive state of an individual. In addition, I will present recent results of ROI-based representational similarity analyses (RSA) focusing on how food characteristics are represented across the brain. Finally, I will talk about our current research focusing on a personalized approach to understanding and treating overweight and obesity.

Publications

  • Vanbrabant, E., Hesen, J., Jordan, S., Mironiuc, C., Lemmens, L. H., Shapovalova, Y., … & Roefs, A. (2026). Predicting healthy and unhealthy eating behaviours based on the DEBQ and ecological momentary assessment. Appetite, 226, 108675.
  • Hesen, J., Vanbrabant, E., Mironiuc, C., Jordan, S., Lemmens, L., Shapovalova, Y., … & Roefs, A. (2026). Predictors of food craving strength in individuals with overweight, obesity and healthy BMI: findings of a three-week EMA study. Appetite, 226, 108647.
  • Vanbrabant, E., Hesen, J., Jordan, S., Mironiuc, C., Lemmens, L. H., Shapovalova, Y., … & Roefs, A. (2026). End of Average. Understanding Overweight & Obesity: Rationale and Design. medRxiv, 2026-06.
  • Marrazzo, G., Pimpini, L., Kochs, S., De Martino, F., Valente, G., & Roefs, A. (2026). Distributed representational encoding of food attributes in ventral visual cortex.
  • Pimpini, L., Kochs, S., Franssen, S., van den Hurk, J., Valente, G., Roebroeck, A., … & Roefs, A. (2022). More complex than you might think: Neural representations of food reward value in obesity. Appetite, 178, 106164.

  • Place
    CARF
  • Dates
    On 24 September 2026 at 10:30
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