Cardiac response in aversive and appetitive olfactory conditioning: Evidence for a valence‐independent CS‐elicited bradycardia

Exner, Anna; León, Isabell Tapia; Mueller, Erik M.; Klucken, Tim

doi:10.1111/psyp.13912

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Our data also provide some support for the notion that pupil dilation responses, as compared with other measures, may be especially well‐suited for tracking appetitive conditioning processes (even though, in line with earlier findings, effect sizes might be somewhat smaller than for aversive UCSs; Finke et al, 2021). This contrasts with results commonly observed for conditioned SCRs, which was found to be less sensitive to reward learning (e.g., Exner et al, 2021; Hermann et al, 2000; Pietrock et al, 2019; but see Andreatta & Pauli, 2015), Interestingly, differential pupil dilation responses averaged across acquisition were positively correlated between valence categories in both experimental groups ( r s > .4), thus supporting the idea of an underlying trait of general ‘conditionability’ or reinforcement sensitivity (Corr, 2004). However, pupil responses to the CS+ app did not show a coherent pattern of associations with subjective judgments as well as with SCRs (see Supplemental Results for detailed results of exploratory correlational analyses).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Pupil dilation tracks divergent learning processes in aware versus unaware Pavlovian conditioning

2023

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Evidence regarding unaware differential fear conditioning in humans is mixed and even less is known about the effects of contingency awareness on appetitive conditioning. Phasic pupil dilation responses (PDR) might be more sensitive for capturing implicit learning than other measures, such as skin conductance responses (SCR). Here, we report data from two delay conditioning experiments utilizing PDR (alongside SCR and subjective assessments) to investigate the role of contingency awareness in aversive and appetitive conditioning. In both experiments, valence of unconditioned stimuli (UCS) was varied within participants by administering aversive (mild electric shocks) and appetitive UCSs (monetary rewards). Preceding visual stimuli (CSs) predicted either the reward, the shock (65% reinforcement), or neither UCS. In Exp. 1, participants were fully instructed about CS‐UCS contingencies, whereas in Exp. 2, no such information was given. PDR and SCR demonstrated successful differential conditioning in Exp. 1 and in (learned) aware participants in Exp. 2. In non‐instructed participants who remained fully unaware of contingencies (Exp. 2), differential modulation of early PDR (immediately after CS onset) by appetitive cues emerged. Associations with model‐derived learning parameters further suggest that early PDR in unaware participants mainly reflect implicit learning of expected outcome value, whereas early PDR in aware (instructed/learned‐aware) participants presumably index attentional processes (related to uncertainty/prediction error processing). Similar, but less clear results emerged for later PDR (preceding UCS onset). Our data argue in favor of a dual‐process account of associative learning, suggesting that value‐related processing can take place irrespective of mechanisms involved in conscious memory formation.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Pupil dilation tracks divergent learning processes in aware versus unaware Pavlovian conditioning

2023

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“…This acquisition of conditioned responses to many CSs after only a single learning block in which all CS-US pairs are presented is the key feature of this stimulus set that makes it useful for experiments that also involve assessments of episodic memory, as stimulus repetitions often need to be kept minimal to avoid memories from getting too strong, or more semantic in nature (McClelland et al, 1995). Although 'episodic conditioning' was successful for negative USs, it was not for positive USs, which is a fairly typical pattern of results for studies investigating both aversive and appetitive conditioning in humans (Exner et al, 2021;Hermann et al, 2000;Stussi et al, 2018). One reason for this may be that the unconditioned responses to positive stimuli were on all measures substantially smaller than those to negative stimuli were on the pupil and corrugator.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

‘Episodic Conditioning’: a novel approach to study the intersection of Pavlovian threat conditioning and episodic memory.

Vries¹,

Duken²,

Dzinalija³

et al. 2022

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The powerful ways future behavior and cognition can be affected by emotional events are typically studied either by means of Pavlovian conditioning or episodic memory paradigms. However, due to their incompatible methods, little is known about how Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory relate to each other, or work in concert to affect behavior and other cognitive processes. Here, we present a novel stimulus set consisting of 60 negative, neutral, and positive image/sound combinations (Affective Multi-modal Stimuli; AMS) that elicited strong subjective and psychophysiological emotional responses, the latter of which transferred to arbitrary predictors already after a single paired presentation in a new paradigm (Episodic Conditioning). Real-life emotional events are likely to involve both Pavlovian conditioning and episodic memory processes. The episodic conditioning paradigm enables their simultaneous assessment, thereby providing an opportunity to gain more holistic insight into how these process interact in sickness and in health.

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“…Unpleasant (and, less consistently, high arousing, in contrast to low arousing pleasant) pictures have been found to evoke more pronounced initial HR deceleration, whereas pleasant pictures provoked higher acceleration relative to unpleasant [neutral pictures ranging in between; (30,32)]. In line with these findings, evidence from appetitive and aversive conditioning suggest, that initial bradycardia might be rather valence-independent, indicating stimulus novelty or significance (33,34).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Physiological and neural synchrony in emotional and neutral stimulus processing: A study protocol

et al. 2023

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BackgroundAs psychotherapy involves at least two individuals, it is essential to include the interaction perspective research. During interaction, synchrony, i.e., the occurrence of simultaneous responses, can be observed at the physiological, neural, and behavioral level. Physiological responses include heart rate and electrodermal activity; neural markers can be measured using electroencephalogram. Emotionally arousing stimuli are allocated more attentional resources (motivated attention), which is reflected in physiological activation and brain potentials. Here we present a protocol for a pilot study implementing a new research methodology, and replication of the motivated attention to emotion effect in in dyads. There is evidence that higher synchrony is associated with more positive (therapeutic) relationships. Thus, the secondary outcome will be the association between physiological and neural synchrony and subjective ratings.Methods and designIndividuals (18−30 years) will participate in same-sex pairs in two experiments. In the first experiment (triadic interaction), both participants attentively watch unpleasant, neutral and pleasant pictures, and read/listen to standardized scripts (unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant, respectively) for the imagination task. In the second experiment, participants will read out three scripts (unpleasant, neutral, pleasant) to each other, followed by a joint imagination period. Stimuli will be presented in counterbalanced orders. After each picture and imagination, participants rate their subjective arousal and valence. In the beginning and in the end of the procedure, dyads rate their relationship, sympathy, and bonds (Working Alliance Inventory subscale). Heart rate, electrodermal activity and electroencephalogram will be continuously measured during both experiments using portable devices (EcgMove4 and EdaMove4, nine-channel B-Alert X-Series mobile-wireless EEG). Synchrony analyses will include the dual electroencephalography analysis pipeline, correlational analyses and Actor–Partner Interdependence Models.DiscussionThe present study protocol provides an experimental approach to investigate interpersonal synchrony during emotion processing, allowing for the establishment of research methods in a pilot study, which can later be translated into real-life psychotherapy research. In the future, fundamental understanding of such mechanisms in dyadic interactions is essential in order to promote therapeutic relationships, and thus, treatment effectiveness and efficiency.

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Cardiac response in aversive and appetitive olfactory conditioning: Evidence for a valence‐independent CS‐elicited bradycardia

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n-NonCo mmerc ial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Cited by 4 publications

References 96 publications

Pupil dilation tracks divergent learning processes in aware versus unaware Pavlovian conditioning

Pupil dilation tracks divergent learning processes in aware versus unaware Pavlovian conditioning

‘Episodic Conditioning’: a novel approach to study the intersection of Pavlovian threat conditioning and episodic memory.

Physiological and neural synchrony in emotional and neutral stimulus processing: A study protocol

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