title: Impulsivity makes more susceptible to overeating after contextual appetitive conditioning.
abstract: Animals can learn that specific contexts are associated with important biological events such as food intake through classical conditioning. Very few studies suggest this is also possible in humans and contextual appetitive conditioning might even be a main determinant of habitual overeating in vulnerable humans. A Virtual Reality laboratory was used to test whether humans show conditioned responding (increased food desires and expectations, increased salivation and increased food intake) to a specific context after repeated pairings of this context with intake. It was also examined whether the personality trait impulsivity strengthens this contextual appetitive conditioning. Conditioned context-induced reactivity was indeed demonstrated and impulsivity predicted increased intake in only the intake-associated context. It is concluded that humans easily learn desires to eat in intake-related environments. The data also suggest that in particular more impulsive people are vulnerable for conditioned context-induced overeating. This relatively easy learning of associations between specific contexts and intake might stimulate habitual overeating and contribute to increased obesity prevalence.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. karolien.vandenakker@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Karolien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van den Akker
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Florentine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frentz
authors.forename: Remco C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Havermans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001245:Association Learning; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000523:psychology*; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D062407:Meals; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D012472:Salivation / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Appetitive conditioning; Cue reactivity; Impulsivity; Overeating; Salivation