AUTHOR=Amd Micah , Baillet Sylvain 

TITLE=Neurophysiological Effects Associated With Subliminal Conditioning of Appetite Motivations

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00457

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00457

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>When attempting to encourage eating, explicitly providing statements like “eating is pleasant” may produce little effect. This may be due to subjective, negatively-valenced narratives evoked by perception of the verb “eating” (e.g., <italic>eating</italic> →<italic>fat</italic> →<italic>lonely</italic>), overriding any explicitly provided <italic>eating-pleasant</italic> valence information. In our study, we presented eating-related verbs under subliminal visual conditions to mitigate the onset of <italic>eating</italic>-associated deliberation. Verbs were linked with neutral or positively valenced terms across independent blocks. Modulations of event-related magnetoencephalographic (MEG) components and parietal activations in the alpha range (8–12 Hz) illustrated a significant effect of valence during pre-lexical time windows. We found significantly greater saliva production and declarations of increasing hunger after eating-related verbs were linked with positive terms. Orally reported preferences did not vary between conditions.</p>