Prefrontal cortex damage abolishes brand-cued changes in cola preference, by Koenig and Tranel

The “Pepsi paradox” refers to the fact that people show a reliable preference for Coke (vs. Pepsi) when they have brand information (as in supermarkets) but not in the absence of such information (as in blind taste tests). Neuroimaging studies of this phenomenon demonstrate a consistent neural response in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated with subjects’ behavioral preferences (McClure et al. 2004) and that damage to that brain area abolishes the paradox (Koenigs and Tranel 2008). 

Vidal, Fernando and Ortega, Francisco. Being Brains: Making the Cerebral Subject (Forms of Living) (...

psychiatry.wisc.edu/staff/koenigs-michael/

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