Appetitive Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Participants with Normal-Weight and Obesity

Overview

Journal Nutrients

Date 2019 May 12

PMID 31075858

Citations 8

Authors

Marie-Theres Meemken

Annette Horstmann

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Altered eating behavior due to modern, food-enriched environments has a share in the recent obesity upsurge, though the exact mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to assess whether higher weight or weight gain are related to stronger effects of external cues on motivation-driven behavior. 51 people with and without obesity completed an appetitive Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) paradigm. During training, button presses as well as presentation of fractal images resulted in three palatable and one neutral taste outcome. In the subsequent test phase, outcome-specific and general behavioral bias of the positively associated fractal images on deliberate button press were tested under extinction. While all participants showed signs of specific transfer, general transfer was not elicited. Contrary to our expectations, there was no main effect of weight group on PIT magnitude. Participants with obesity exhibited higher scores in the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Disinhibition scale, replicating a very robust effect from previous literature. Individual Restraint scores were able to predict body-mass index (BMI) change after a three-year period. Our data indicate that PIT is an important player in how our environment influences the initiation of food intake, but its effects alone cannot explain differences in-or future development of-individual weight.

Citing Articles

Sex differences in motivational biases over instrumental actions.

Degni L, Garofalo S, Finotti G, Starita F, Robbins T, di Pellegrino G NPJ Sci Learn. 2024; 9(1):62.

PMID: 39379394 PMC: 11461879. DOI: 10.1038/s41539-024-00246-6.

Diet and obesity effects on cue-driven food-seeking: insights from studies of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer in rodents and humans.

Gladding J, Bradfield L, Kendig M Front Behav Neurosci. 2023; 17:1199887.

PMID: 37424751 PMC: 10325859. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1199887.

Pavlovian-instrumental transfer effects in individuals with binge eating.

Chan W, Lai T J Eat Disord. 2023; 11(1):113.

PMID: 37415257 PMC: 10327350. DOI: 10.1186/s40337-023-00824-w.

Enhanced Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in internet gaming disorder.

Qin C, Feng S, Chen Y, Liao X, Cheng X, Tian M J Behav Addict. 2023; 12(2):471-479.

PMID: 37267086 PMC: 10316159. DOI: 10.1556/2006.2023.00023.

General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference.

Degni L, Dalbagno D, Starita F, Benassi M, di Pellegrino G, Garofalo S Front Behav Neurosci. 2022; 16:945503.

PMID: 36051636 PMC: 9426756. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503.

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