Navigating Neuropsychology 198 | Nutritional Cognitive Neuroscience – A Conversation With Dr. Aron Barbey
Sep 1, 2026
Aron Barbey, a Notre Dame professor leading the Human Neuroimaging Center and Decision Neuroscience Lab, explores nutritional cognitive neuroscience. They discuss how diet, inflammation, reward, genetics, social context, and the gut-brain axis shape brain health and eating behavior. Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND patterns take center stage, alongside personalized nutrition, supplements, fasting, and the need for cautious, interdisciplinary research.
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Food Access Is Part Of Brain Health
- Food access, affordability, culture, education, family context, stress, and healthcare shape both diet and brain health.
- These conditions are part of the causal system, not merely confounds researchers should statistically remove.
Eating Behavior Changes The Brain That Chooses Food
- Eating reflects hunger and satiety signals plus taste, reward, habits, emotions, social context, and cognitive control.
- Repeated dietary patterns can reshape reward sensitivity, habits, and stress responses, creating a bidirectional relationship.
Study Nutrition As A Brain-Wide System
- Evaluate nutrition through system-level effects on metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, plasticity, brain structure, networks, cognition, and clinical outcomes.
- Avoid claims that one nutrient produces one isolated cognitive effect.