speaker：Associate Professor, Mei Peng, University of Otago, New Zealand

Time：14:00-16:00, July 7, 2025

Venue: Room 1206, Wangkezhen Building

Host: Professor Yiqun Gan

Abstract

Understanding why we eat what we eat requires examining not only how we perceive food through our senses, but also how we mentally simulate food experiences. In this talk, I will present our recent findings examining how individual differences in sensory sensitivity, such as heightened responsiveness to taste, smell, and texture, are associated with food preferences, dietary patterns, and obesity risk. I will then discuss our latest research on the cognitive mechanisms of food-related mental imagery, particularly how the vividness of imagined sensory experiences influences food cravings, neophobia, and decision-making. Drawing on psychophysical, behavioural, and neuroimaging methods, our work highlights how both bottom-up sensory processing and top-down cognitive simulation jointly shape eating behaviour. These findings highlight the importance of an integrated approach to understanding food-related decision-making and suggest new opportunities for targeted dietary interventions.

Bio

Associate Professor Mei Peng is based at the Department of Food Science at the University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand, where she also directs the Sensory Neuroscience and Nutrition Laboratory. Her research investigates the cognitive, sensory, and emotional factors that shape individual food choices and eating behaviour. With a background in Experimental Psychology, Associate Professor Peng applies a multidisciplinary approach, integrating as psychophysical, behavioural, and neuroimaging methods, to explore the complex interactions between humans and food.

She has been awarded a number of prestigious national and international research grants, including multiple awards from the Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand, Health Research Council, and the Fulbright Scholar Award. These awards provided opportunities for her to collaborate with leading scholars worldwide, including the University of California (Berkeley and Davis), the University of Pennsylvania, and Oxford University. With over 70 publications, her work spans a wide range of topics across food psychology, nutrition, and eating behaviour.