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𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣?

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𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣?

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𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘, 𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚍.

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ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕦𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕? 

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ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕦𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕? 

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𝙸𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎.

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𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕨𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪...

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𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕨𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪...

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ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕥?

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ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕥?

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When you're really hungry, the smell and sight of food takes on a whole new meaning -- so it's unsurprising that going grocery shopping when famished can lead to an overflowing cart and, likely, some buyer's remorse.

A new study on larval zebrafish, to be published in next month's issue of the journal Neuron, shows that we may find it more difficult to resist tasty treats when our stomachs are grumbling because hunger may heighten our sensory perceptions of food.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Germany used computer animation to allow different sized dots to move through the visual fields of the zebrafish. Normally, the fish chase small moving dots and swim away from large moving dots, while they avoid and approach mid-sized dots with equal frequency.

As expected, the team noticed that the fish changed their behavior when they were hungry. The hungry fish tended to chase the mid-sized dots significantly more than the satiated fish did.

"We interpret this behavior such that the hungry animals are taking more 'risks' -- after all, the big dots could be bigger fish that are out to eat them," Dr. Herwig Baier, a neuroscientist at the institute and the study's lead author, told The Huffington Post in an email. "What was really interesting was that the brain's visual centers also responded differently to prey-like stimuli."

In hungry fish, Baier explained, a greater number of nerve cells became active in response to the small and mid-sized dots, which suggests that hunger changes the way that the outside world is represented in the brain.

By increasing nerve activity involving sensory perception in the tectum -- a brain region that links visual inputs to behavioral outputs -- hunger likely changes the way that the fish perceive the outside world, making objects appear edible.

The researchers concluded that hunger may increase nerve cell activity in the tectum via two molecular pathways -- the inhibition of hormones that signal low energy levels, and increased activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which governs functions like mood, appetite and digestion.

The change of perception directly influences the fish's behavior, making them more likely to go after "risky" food targets than satiated fish.

In humans, it's likely that something similar happens, with hunger triggering a shift in brain activity involved in sensory perception. The way we classify objects is likely to be significantly affected by how hungry we are -- which may explain why food can be so difficult to ignore when you haven't eaten in a while.

"We all know that smells and sights of food become more salient when we're hungry," Baier said. "Subconsciously, our visual sense may be better at noticing, for example, ads for fast food restaurants."

But, why study larval zebrafish as a model for the human brain? According to Baier, the tiny vertebrates are actually a surprisingly good way to study the neural bases of behavior. The zebrafish have a similar brain structure to humans and they're transparent, so scientists can use staining methods to clearly observe changes in nerve cell activity.

"We can image brain activity with cell resolution in a living, intact animal that is watching a movie on a miniature TV screen," Baier said. "We use genetic engineering to make nerve cells of the fish produce fluorescent proteins that light up when the cell is active."

BEFORE YOU GO

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This Is What Feeling Hungry Does To Your Brain

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When you're really hungry, the smell and sight of food takes on a whole new meaning -- so it's unsurprising that going grocery shopping when famished can lead to an overflowing cart and, likely, some buyer's remorse.

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𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪...

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𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪...

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Hunger Increases Your Risk of Chronic Diseases

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3 Devastating Effects of Hunger on the Body | Feeding America

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Have you ever wondered how hunger affects your body? Here are three surprising effects that may seem less visible but are just as devastating for the 40 million Americans facing hunger today.