Premium
Modulation of eyeblink and postauricular reflexes during the anticipation and viewing of food images
Author(s) -
Hebert Karen R.,
ValleInclán Fernando,
Hackley Steven A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12372
Subject(s) - psychology , anticipation (artificial intelligence) , incentive salience , salience (neuroscience) , moro reflex , reflex , valence (chemistry) , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , audiology , addiction , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science
One of the goals of neuroscience research on the reward system is to fractionate its functions into meaningful subcomponents. To this end, the present study examined emotional modulation of the eyeblink and postauricular components of startle in 60 young adults during anticipation and viewing of food images. Appetitive and disgusting photos served as rewards and punishments in a guessing game. Reflexes evoked during anticipation were not influenced by valence, consistent with the prevailing view that startle modulation indexes hedonic impact (liking) rather than incentive salience (wanting). During the slide‐viewing period, postauricular reflexes were larger for correct than incorrect feedback, whereas the reverse was true for blink reflexes. Probes were delivered in brief trains, but only the first response exhibited this pattern. The specificity of affective startle modification makes it a valuable tool for studying the reward system.