But while they may whet appetites, these images also light up brains, scientists in the United States have found.

You know how it goes: as soon as you log on to Instagram, you can’t help but scroll away, stoking hunger as you lust over the stringy goodness of a grilled cheese sandwich or the barbecue sauce dripping from a juicy burger.

But comfort food – often high in fat and carbs – isn’t just good for your soul. As it turns out, your brain also loves it when you look at pictures of gooey pizza and other examples of so-called “food porn”.

And there’s a scientific explanation for this, according to the findings of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published in the journal “Current Biology”.

They discovered that a group of neurons in the visual cortex – the part of the brain that processes information transmitted by the eyes – lights up when images of appetising food appear.

And it’s not a fresh salad or grated carrots that gets the brain the most excited, but rather dishes that are less readily recommended from a nutritional point of view. In fact, the visual cortex reacts much more when it sees processed foods than healthy foods – which is too bad for anyone who’s watching their weight.

Scientists have identified neurons that are particularly receptive to food in this part of the brain that otherwise deals with the perception of faces, bodies and places – parameters that are essential for living in society.

In the context of this research, the fact that food is analysed in the same part of the brain reflects how central the subject is to human interactions and cultural practices. In other words, food serves a greater role than simply keeping humans alive in a biological sense.

Scientists are only at the beginning of these discoveries relating to the importance of food in social fabric. As a result, the researchers now hope to continue their investigations to determine how people’s responses to certain foods might differ depending on their likes and dislikes, or their familiarity with certain ingredients.

As a broader subject, this has been of interest to scientists for many years, notably at the French National Center for Scientific Research at the University of Burgundy. Recently, professor Benoist Schaal discovered that babies in the womb react differently to various flavors and smells, in a major study conducted in collaboration with the UK’s University of Durham.

Ultimately, the scientists hope to establish whether a pregnant woman’s diet could determine the food preferences of an unborn child.