Acoustic startle reactivity while processing reward‐related food cues during food deprivation: Evidence from women in different menstrual cycle phases and men

Abstract

Previous research has shown that food deprivation enhances the acoustic startle reflex when it is elicited during presentation of visual food cues. Frustrative nonreward may explain this effect, since visual food cues are also rated to be more appetitive and arousing during food deprivation. However, the impact of menstrual cycle and sex on this effect remains unclear, and it is also not known whether this effect is influenced by hunger and motivation to eat. According to a within-study design, 20 healthy women in different menstrual cycle phases and 14 healthy men participated twice, in normal and food-deprived conditions. After 18 h of food deprivation, acoustic startle was attenuated by appetitive nonfood foreground pictures, but enhanced by presentation of food pictures. No differences between menstrual cycle phases and sexes appeared. The effect correlated with hunger changes, suggesting that motivational factors play a role.

Voluntary emotion regulation in anorexia nervosa: A preliminary emotion-modulated startle investigation

“…In contrast to previous work in healthy individuals (Ferreira de Sá et al, 2014), positive images resulted in potentiated, rather than inhibited, startle magnitudes relative to neutral images in our sample. Further, participants did not successfully enhance their startle responses to pleasant images.…”

“…Despite one conflicting result (Friederich et al, 2006), most studies examining clinical and analog samples of women with BN also report potentiated startle responses to food images (Altman et al, 2013, Drobes et al, 2001, Mauler et al, 2006), suggesting implicit emotional reactivity to food is disturbed across eating disorders. In contrast, healthy control participants typically experience startle inhibition when viewing food images in non-deprived states (Drobes et al, 2001, Ferreira de Sá et al, 2014, Mauler et al, 2006). Increased emotional reactivity to food images in persons with AN has been documented across studies using a variety of methodologies (Giel et al, 2011, Joos et al, 2011, Zhu et al, 2012).…”

Short‐term food deprivation increases amplitudes of heartbeat‐evoked potentials

“…Both laboratory sessions were 1 month apart and at exactly the same time of day. The study was part of an extended protocol that has in part been reported elsewhere (Ferreira de Sá et al, 2014). Participants were randomly assigned to two groups (between variable): the 2 A.…”

Motivated state control in larval zebrafish: behavioral paradigms and anatomical substrates

“…For instance, in mammals, fear elevates sensitivity to threatening stimuli, potentiating startle responses (Anderson, Crowell and Brown, 1985, p. 19; de Sá et al, 2014) whereas hunger significantly increases olfactory sensitivity enabling energy-deprived animals to more readily locate food (Aimé et al, 2007; Ramaekers et al, 2016). During motivated states, changes in sensory responsiveness may be confined to ethologically relevant modalities.…”

“…During motivated states, changes in sensory responsiveness may be confined to ethologically relevant modalities. Thus, hunger does not alter acoustic startle thresholds in rats or humans, presumably because threatening auditory cues do not convey useful information for locating food (Anderson et al, 1985, p. 19; de Sá et al, 2014). Comparable results have been obtained from work in fish.…”