An application of Pavlovian principles to the problems of obesity and cognitive decline

Davidson, Terry L.; Sample, Camille H.; Swithers, Susan E.

doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2013.07.014

Cited by 79 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…Previously, we proposed a model that describes how both internal cues corresponding to hunger and satiety and external cues associated with foods and the postingestive consequences of eating participate in the learned control of energy intake and body weight (e.g., Davidson, Sample, & Swithers, 2014; Davidson, Tracy, Schier, & Swithers, 2014). One purpose of the current research is to assess the extent to which these internal cues are able to compete with external cues for the control of conditioned appetitive behavior when both types of cues are valid signals of food reward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Western-style diet impairs stimulus control by food deprivation state cues: Implications for obesogenic environments

et al. 2015

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In western and westernized societies, large portions of the population live in what are considered to be “obesogenic” environments. Among other things, obesogenic environments are characterized by a high prevalence of external cues that are associated with highly palatable, energy-dense foods. One prominent hypothesis suggests that these external cues become such powerful conditioned elicitors of appetitive and eating behavior that they overwhelm the internal, physiological mechanisms that serve to maintain energy balance. The present research investigated a learning mechanism that may underlie this loss of internal relative to external control. In Experiment 1, rats were provided with both auditory cues (external stimuli) and varying levels of food deprivation (internal stimuli) that they could use to solve a simple discrimination task. Despite having access to clearly discriminable external cues, we found that the deprivation cues gained substantial discriminative control over conditioned responding. Experiment 2 found that, compared to standard chow, maintenance on a “western-style” diet high in saturated fat and sugar weakened discriminative control by food deprivation cues, but did not impair learning when external cues were also trained as relevant discriminative signals for sucrose. Thus, eating a western-style diet contributed to a loss of internal control over appetitive behavior relative to external cues. We discuss how this relative loss of control by food deprivation signals may result from interference with hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes, forming the basis of a vicious-cycle of excessive intake, body weight gain, and progressive cognitive decline that may begin very early in life.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Western-style diet impairs stimulus control by food deprivation state cues: Implications for obesogenic environments

et al. 2015

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“…Refining earlier ideas about the learned modulatory role of energy state signals (e.g., Davidson, 1993, 2000; Davidson & Benoit, 1996; Harris, Gorissen, Bailey, & Westbrook, 2000), we recently proposed that the ability of satiety cues to inhibit eating behavior depends on the operation of a learning and memory mechanism analogous to the one underlying the solution to a Pavlovian serial feature negative (FN) problem (e.g., Davidson, Kanoski, Schier, Clegg, & Benoit, 2007; Davidson, Kanoski, Walls, & Jarrard, 2005; Davidson et al, 2014). Serial FN problems take the general form of A+, X→A-, where the presentation of Stimulus A (e.g., a tone) signals the delivery of a US (+) on trials when it is presented alone, but not on trials when it is preceded by the presentation a different cue, Stimulus X (e.g., a light).…”

Section: Learning and The Modulatory Control Of Intakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 13 depicts how a mechanism derived from accounts of serial FN learning (e.g., Bouton & Nelson, 1994; Swartzentruber & Rescorla, 1994) may also be applied to explain how satiety cues exert inhibitory control over eating behavior (see Davidson et al, 2014). This model adopts the simplifying assumption that all of the pathways shown in the figure are learned.…”

Section: Learning and The Modulatory Control Of Intakementioning

confidence: 99%

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A view of obesity as a learning and memory disorder.

Davidson¹,

Tracy²,

Schier³

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cogniti

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This review describes how a cascade of associative relationships involving the sensory properties of foods, the nutritional consequences of their consumption and perceived internal states may play an important role in the learned control of energy intake and body weight regulation. In addition, we describe ways in which dietary factors in the current environment can promote excess energy intake and body weight gain by degrading these relationships or by interfering with the neural substrates that underlie the ability of animals to use them to predict the nutritive or energetic consequences of intake. We propose that an expanded appreciation of the diversity of orosensory, gastrointestinal, and energy state signals about which animals learn, combined with a greater understanding of predictive relationships in which these cues are embedded, will help generate new information and novel approaches to addressing the current global problems of obesity and metabolic disease.

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“…It is possible that the emergence of serious memory dysfunction later in life might be traced to the intake of Western diets in childhood; if so, therapeutic interventions administered in childhood, when pathophysiology and functional changes in the hippocampus are just beginning, could provide long-lasting protection from both cognitive deficits and obesity when these children become adults. A shift away from saturated fats to omega-3 fatty acids may have this desired effect [69,70]. …”

Section: Scientific Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the Bellagio Report on Healthy Agriculture, Healthy Nutrition, Healthy People: Scientific and Policy Aspects and the International Network of Centers for Genetics, Nutrition and Fitness for Health

Simopoulos

2014

Lifestyle Genomics

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The Bellagio Report on Healthy Agriculture, Healthy Nutrition, Healthy People was the result of a meeting held at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in the fall of 2012. The meeting was science based but policy oriented. The Bellagio Report concluded that: (1) sugar consumption, especially in the form of high-energy fructose in soft drinks, poses a major and insidious health threat, particularly for children; (2) current diets in most populations, albeit with regional differences, are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids but too high in omega-6 fatty acid intake, and (3) not all calories are the same since calories from different sources (i.e. glucose or fructose or omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acids) have different metabolic and neurohormonal effects. This paper summarizes the scientific progress and policy actions that have occurred in these three areas. Genetic variation in populations and gene-nutrient interactions are fundamental concepts that need to be taken into consideration in growth and development and in the prevention and management of chronic noncommunicable diseases since there is enormous variation in both the frequency of genetic variants and dietary composition worldwide. Furthermore, this paper updates the Bellagio Report in terms of the scientific and policy aspects, both of which have expanded over the past 2 years, and describes the progress made in establishing an International Network of Centers for Genetics, Nutrition and Fitness for Health.

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An application of Pavlovian principles to the problems of obesity and cognitive decline

Cited by 79 publications

References 113 publications

Western-style diet impairs stimulus control by food deprivation state cues: Implications for obesogenic environments

Western-style diet impairs stimulus control by food deprivation state cues: Implications for obesogenic environments

A view of obesity as a learning and memory disorder.

The Impact of the Bellagio Report on Healthy Agriculture, Healthy Nutrition, Healthy People: Scientific and Policy Aspects and the International Network of Centers for Genetics, Nutrition and Fitness for Health

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