Biology subjects

Cunillera, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Cunillera, T..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Satiety does not abolish Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer but accelerates devaluation in humans

Environmental cues that predict palatable food can robustly drive behavior, override satiety signals and promote maladaptive eating habits. However, conventional human paradigms often fail to capture the dynamic interplay between hunger, satiety, and cue-induced behavioral actions. To address this, we built a novel automated dispenser synchronized with task events and integrated into an adapted human Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm to deliver real, consumable food rewards in real time--allowing participants to eat online and thereby induce satiation or sustain hunger. In one experiment, we manipulated food rewards by varying portion size and consumption timing. Large portions consumed immediately induced rapid satiation, whereas small, trial-by-trial portions kept participants non-satiated; correspondingly, large portions accelerated devaluation of the food reward--evidenced by a pronounced decline in instrumental responding--while small portions sustained cue-driven behavior over time. In a subsequent experiment, small, immediately consumed food rewards (which kept participants non-satiated) were directly compared with real-time monetary rewards. Although both reward types initially invigorated behavior, the motivational impact of monetary rewards declined quicker, suggesting that the absence of physiological feedback renders secondary reinforcers more vulnerable to rapid devaluation. These findings suggest that satiety accelerates, rather than abolishes, the influence of food-associated cues. The distinct temporal dynamics observed for food and monetary outcomes underscore the importance of real-time ingestion in human PIT paradigms, offering new insights into the mechanisms by which physiological states modulate cue-driven devaluation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Satiety Does Not Silence Food Attention: BMI Modulates Attentional Bias Toward High-Calorie Cues

BackgroundAttentional bias (AB) for palatable foods has been linked to overeating, yet data on its modulation with body-mass index (BMI) and hunger/satiety are inconsistent. We tested whether hunger, sensory-specific satiety and BMI interact to shape automatic capture of attention by real high-calorie snack foods. MethodsTwo emotional-attentional-blink (EAB) experiments presented food distractors either 300 msec (lag-3) or 900 msec (lag-9) before a neutral target. Experiment 1 (N = 183; whole BMI range) randomly assigned participants to taste (non-satiated), satiated or non-eating conditions; the snacks eaten (or not eaten) subsequently re-appeared as distractors in the EAB task. Experiment 2 (N = 61; 31 overweight/obese, 30 normal-weight) manipulated hunger/satiety states and snack type (consumed vs. novel) orthogonally, in a double session design. ResultsExperiment 1-- food images presented at lag-3 reduced target detection compared with lag-9 (OR = 0.61, CI 0.50-0.75, p <.01. Higher BMI predicted a larger AB when hungry, but a smaller AB when satiated (OR = 0.65, CI 0.48-0.88, p < 0.01). Experiment 2-- For novel snacks, an interaction revealed that participants with overweight/obesity retained robust AB after satiation, whereas AB declined for participants with normal-weight (OR = 2.45, CI 1.09-5.51, p = 0.03). For snacks just eaten, AB remained significant in both groups (lag-3 vs. lag-9: OR = 0.37, CI 0.25-0.55, p <.001). ConclusionsReal-food cues automatically biased attention regardless of metabolic state, with BMI modulating this effect: even when satiated, individuals with overweight/obesity continue to orient their attention toward both familiar and novel high-calorie foods. These findings suggest that satiety signals alone may be insufficient to curb attentional capture by food in obesity, highlighting the need for interventions that target attentional control and limit food availability.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Riding the savory horse: An active mindset and food macronutrient composition influence attentional bias toward food cues

Food cues that appear in the visual field capture our attention easily and can influence eating behavior. The current study investigated the influence of food-related stimuli on visual attention, considering the macronutrient composition of food items. Images representing sweet and savory foods were employed, the latter consisting primarily of high-protein foods. The participants were primed with these images prior to performing the attentional task. We found that both sets of food images elicited an emotional attentional blink (EAB), but a stronger EAB was observed for the high-protein foods, and this observation was further supported by a negative correlation between the attentional bias (ABias) and the proportion of protein consumed by the participants before the experiment, with participants who consumed less protein exhibiting a stronger ABias toward high-protein foods. These findings suggest that an ABias might also arise to facilitate the consumption of high-protein foods when prior consumption of this macronutrient is low.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Fasting reduces inhibitory and attentional control of food-related cues

The metabolic and cognitive systems interact to create the motivational drive that occasionally leads to disrupted consummatory eating behaviors. In this study, we investigated whether stimulus-specific alterations of the inhibitory function are present following a period of food deprivation. Twenty-six participants with normal weight performed the Stop Signal Task (SST) and the Go/No-go (GNG) task to measure response inhibition to food images containing high or low caloric content after following -or not- a 12-hour fasting period. Response inhibition performance in the SST did not exhibit significant differences when considering neither fasting, stimulus type nor food caloric content. We instead found a higher percentage of commission errors in the No-go trials of the GNG task in the fasting session, and specially with high-caloric food items. In contrast, the accuracy in the Go trials was similar between conditions. A mixed logistic regression model confirmed the remarkable impact of fasting on the performance of response inhibition. Overall, our findings support an interpretation of the motivational drive to eat strongly associated with aspects of the inhibitory function underlying high attentional control, rather than to a proper response inhibition per se.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Early changes in corticomotor excitability underlie proactive inhibitory control of error correction

Converging evidence indicates that response inhibition may arise from the interaction of effortful proactive and reflexive reactive mechanisms. However, the distinction between the neural basis sustaining proactive and reactive inhibitory processes is still unclear. To identify reliable neural markers of proactive inhibition, we examined the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates elicited by manipulating the degree of inhibitory control in a task that involved the detection and amendment of errors. Restraining or encouraging the correction of errors did not affect the time course of the behavioral and neural correlates associated to reactive inhibition. We rather found that a bilateral and sustained decrease of corticomotor excitability was required for an effective proactive inhibitory control, whereas selective strategies were associated with defective response suppression. Our results provide behavioral and electrophysiological conclusive evidence of a comprehensive proactive inhibitory mechanism, with a distinctive underlying neural basis, governing the commission and amendment of errors. Together, these findings hint at a decisive role for changes in corticomotor excitability in determining whether an action will be successfully suppressed. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTResponse inhibition is a fundamental brain function that must be flexible enough to incorporate volitional goal-directed demands, along with rapid, automatic and well consolidated behaviors. Previous studies reflect a lack of consensus regarding the neural correlates subserving these two -proactive and reactive- distinct modes of inhibitory control. We combined electrophysiological recordings with behavioral measures within a paradigm of detection and correction of errors under two degrees of inhibitory control to identify genuine neural markers of proactive inhibitory control. We found evidence supporting a sustained and global -not selective- reduction of corticomotor excitability subserving successful proactive inhibition of motor responses. Our findings favor a distinctive mechanism of comprehensive inhibitory control to amend errors under a high degree of response competition.

neuroscience↗