The nursing hypothesis: An evolutionary account of emotional modulation of the postauricular reflex

Johnson, Gabriella M.; Valle-Inclán, Fernando; Geary, David C.; Hackley, Steven A.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01297.x

Cited by 11 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The postauricular reflex was indeed specifically potentiated in response to the CS1 compared with the CS2 during acquisition, thereby reflecting appetitive learning at the psychophysiological level. This effect is consistent with prior findings that showed a greater postauricular reflex magnitude during presentation of pleasant/appetitive stimuli relative to neutral or unpleasant/aversive stimuli (Aaron & Benning, 2016;Benning, 2011;Benning et al, 2004;Dichter et al, 2010;Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2009;Hackley et al, 2009;Hess et al, 2007;Johnson et al, 2012;Sandt et al, 2009), and does not seem to have been related to participants' subjective hunger level. During the extinction phase, the postauricular reflex magnitude was no longer potentiated to the CS1 in comparison with the CS2, which suggests that its potentiation to the CS1 was conditioned to the pleasant odor delivery.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Measuring Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in humans with the postauricular reflex

et al. 2018

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Despite its evolutionary and clinical significance, appetitive conditioning has been rarely investigated in humans. It has been proposed that this discrepancy might stem from the difficulty in finding suitable appetitive stimuli that elicit strong physiological responses. However, this might also be due to a possible lack of sensitivity of the psychophysiological measures commonly used to index human appetitive conditioning. Here, we investigated whether the postauricular reflex—a vestigial muscle microreflex that is potentiated by pleasant stimuli relative to neutral and unpleasant stimuli—may provide a valid psychophysiological indicator of appetitive conditioning in humans. To this end, we used a delay differential appetitive conditioning procedure, in which a neutral stimulus was contingently paired with a pleasant odor (CS+), while another neutral stimulus was not associated with any odor (CS−). We measured the postauricular reflex, the startle eyeblink reflex, and skin conductance response (SCR) as learning indices. Taken together, our results indicate that the postauricular reflex was potentiated in response to the CS+ compared with the CS−, whereas this potentiation extinguished when the pleasant odor was no longer delivered. In contrast, we found no evidence for startle eyeblink reflex attenuation in response to the CS+ relative to the CS−, and no effect of appetitive conditioning was observed on SCR. These findings suggest that the postauricular reflex is a sensitive measure of human appetitive conditioning and constitutes a valuable tool for further shedding light on the basic mechanisms underlying emotional learning in humans.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Measuring Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in humans with the postauricular reflex

et al. 2018

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“…Johnson, Geary, and Hackley (in preparation) offer a new account of why the postauricular component of startle exhibits a pattern opposite that of the eye blink component. They propose that the normal suppression of defensive reflexes during appetitive states is eclipsed by a reverse bias that is specific to the pinna musculature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reciprocal modulation of eye‐blink and pinna‐flexion components of startle during reward anticipation

Hackley¹,

Muñoz²,

Hebert³

et al. 2009

Psychophysiology

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Because expectancies play a central role in current theories of dopaminergic neuron function, it is important to develop measures of reward anticipation processes. In the present study, reflexogenic bursts of white noise were presented to 39 healthy young adults as they awaited rewards and punishments in a gambling-like task. The rewards were small pieces of chocolate; the punishments, segments of bitter-tasting banana peel. Consistent with prior research on affective valence, postauricular reflexes were larger prior to rewards than punishments, whereas the reverse was true for acoustic blink reflexes. We theorized that potentiation of the postauricular reflex prior to consuming appetizing food is related to the priming of ear-retraction musculature during nursing in our remote ancestors.

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“…Johnson, Valle‐Inclán, Geary, and Hackley () put forth the evolution‐based ‘nursing hypothesis’; the retraction of the ears that occurs in baby mammals in preparation for nursing may be associated with natural selection of circuits that primes the ear‐retraction motor pathway when viewing appetizing food or exposed breasts. Consistent with the nursing hypothesis, these authors found that the postauricular reflex was potentiated during appetitive images when participants pursed their lips, simulating a suckling posture (Johnson et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Reactivity and Appraisal of Food in Relation to Eating Disorder Cognitions and Behaviours: Evidence to Support the Motivational Conflict Hypothesis

Racine

Hebert

Benning

2017

Euro Eating Disorders Rev

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Eating disorders are associated with both negative and positive emotional reactions towards food. Individual eating disorder symptoms may relate to distinct emotional responses to food, which could necessitate tailored treatments based on symptom presentation. We examined associations between eating disorder symptoms and psychophysiological responses to food versus neutral images in 87 college students [mean (SD) age = 19.70 (2.09); mean (SD) body mass index = 23.25(2.77)]. Reflexive and facial electromyography measures tapping negative emotional reactivity (startle blink reflex) and appraisal (corrugator muscle response) as well as positive emotional reactivity (postauricular reflex) and appraisal (zygomaticus muscle response) were collected. Eating disorder cognitions correlated with more corrugator activity to food versus neutral images, indicating negative appraisals of food. Binge eating was associated with increased postauricular reflex reactivity to food versus neutral images, suggesting enhanced appetitive motivation to food. The combination of cognitive eating disorder symptoms and binge eating may result in motivational conflict towards food.

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The nursing hypothesis: An evolutionary account of emotional modulation of the postauricular reflex

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Measuring Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in humans with the postauricular reflex

Measuring Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in humans with the postauricular reflex

Reciprocal modulation of eye‐blink and pinna‐flexion components of startle during reward anticipation

Emotional Reactivity and Appraisal of Food in Relation to Eating Disorder Cognitions and Behaviours: Evidence to Support the Motivational Conflict Hypothesis

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