Compared with unprocessed/minimally processed foods (UMPF), ultraprocessed foods (UPF) elicit stronger emotional reactions. We aimed to investigate whether octagon and/or triangle warning labels (WL) reduce the difference between the emotional reactions evoked by UPF and those evoked by UMPF. University students (n = 247) participated in a supervised remote experiment in which normative ratings for the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) methodology were applied. The participants were randomly allocated into three experimental study arms: (1) the barcode label (control), (2) the triangle label, and (3) the octagon label study arms. In all study arms, the participants were shown 22 food pictures (11 UPF and 11 UMPF) interspersed with 70 pictures from other affective categories in the IAPS catalog. The UPF contained one of the labels (barcode, triangle or octagon) depending on the study arm. After viewing each picture, the participants rated it according to two dimensions of emotion, namely, hedonic valence (pleasantness) and arousal. The participants in study arm 1 (the control group) rated UPF pictures as more pleasant and more arousing than UMPF pictures did. When UPF contained a WL (octagon or triangle label), the participants rated the UPF pictures as being equally pleasant and arousing as the UMPF pictures were. WL (triangle or octagon) can potentially reduce the greater hedonic valence and arousal evoked by UPF relative to UMPF. The current study expands the understanding of how triangle and octagon warning labels (WL) may influence consumer perceptions and behaviors.

Purpose: A growing body of evidence has shown that electroencephalography (EEG) is an interesting method of assessing the underlying brain physiology associated with disordered eating. Using EEG, we sought to evaluate brain reactivity to hyper-palatable food cues in undergraduate students with disordered eating behavior (DEB). Methods: After assessing the eating behaviors of twenty-six undergraduate students using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), electroencephalographic signals were recorded while the participants were presented with pictures of hyper-palatable food. The current study used a temporospatial principal component analysis (PCA) approach to identify event-related potential (ERP) responses that differed between DEB and non-DEB individuals. Results: A temporospatial PCA applied to the ERPs identified a positivity with a maximum amplitude at 347 ms at the occipital-temporal electrodes in response to pictures of hyper-palatable food. This positivity was correlated with the EAT-26 scores. Participants with DEB showed reduced positivities in this component compared with those without DEB. Conclusion: Our findings may reflect greater motivated attention toward hyper-palatable food cues in undergraduate students with DEB. These results are an important step toward obtaining a more refined understanding of specific abnormalities related to reactivity to food cues in this population.

Stroop-like tasks have been used to examine adaptive control in order to overcome distracting information. Debate about the source of interference in Stroop-like tasks is ongoing, and two main sources of conflicts have been consistently mentioned: response and non-response (e.g., semantic) conflicts. Different behavioral protocols have been proposed to disentangle the contribution of each level of conflict. In the new Stroop-matching task adopted in this study, participants had to match the relevant Stroop attribute (color or word, depending on the instructions) to two color-words or two colored bars laterally presented, before emitting their manual responses – with only between-attributes matches being adopted. Response latency and accuracy were analyzed. By means of specific comparisons among conditions, in which the relevant and irrelevant Stroop attribute changed, our results allowed three different sources of interference to be disentangled at the non-response/semantic and response levels, which affect accuracy and/or response latency: the congruency, the response-set and relationship effects. Our new Stroop-matching task and the results obtained were critically discussed and compared with others. We found evidence to corroborate the studies that support separate and independent sources of conflict, and the asymmetric pattern of interference of each Stroop attribute (color and word). Finally, we concluded that Stroop-like tasks can present at least three different conflicts, at both the non-response and response levels, giving support to the multistage models of Stroop interferences, and indicating that task demands are the critical point to determine which (and how) the conflicts will affect the behavioral performance.

BackgroundThe Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), a pictorial scale for the measurement of pleasure and arousal dimensions of emotions, is one of the most applied tools in the emotion research field.ObjectiveWe present a detailed description of a remote method to collect affective ratings in response to pictures by using the SAM scale.MethodsTo empirically validate our remote method, we conducted a study using a digitized version of the SAM scale and delivered online didactic instructions that followed the normative rating procedure for the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) to the participants. We presented 70 pictures from the IAPS and an additional set of 22 food pictures to the participants.ResultsWe found strong correlations between the ratings of IAPS pictures obtained in our sample and those reported by North American and Brazilian participants in previous in-person studies that applied the same pictures and methodology. We were also able to obtain an additional standardized set of food pictures.ConclusionThe protocols described here may be useful for researchers interested in collecting remotely valid and reliable affecting ratings.

Features of threatening cues and the associated context influence the perceived imminence of threat and the defensive responses evoked. To provide additional knowledge about how the directionality of a threat (i.e. directed-towards or away from the viewer) might impact defensive responses in humans, participants were shown pictures of a man carrying a gun (threat) or nonlethal object (neutral) directed-away from or towards the participant. Cardiac and electrodermal responses were collected. Compared to neutral images, threatening images depicting a gun directed-towards the participant induced sustained bradycardia and an increased electrodermal response, interpreted as immobility under attack. This defensive immobility reaction is evoked by high perceived threat and inescapable situations and indicates intense action preparation. Pictures of guns directed-away from the participant induced shorter bradycardia and no significant modulation of the electrodermal response compared to neutral pictures, which might be consistent with the perception of a less threatening situation. The results show that the directionality of threat stimuli is a key factor that prompts different patterns of defensive responses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic healthcare workers were repeatedly exposed to traumatic experiences. Facing life-threatening events and repeated exposure to traumatic duty-related situations may cause posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While tonic immobility has been considered a key vulnerability factor for PTSD, little is known about this relationship in the long term. In this study, we aimed to determine whether peritraumatic tonic immobility triggered by COVID-19-related trauma predicts PTSD symptom severity six to twelve months later. We conducted an online longitudinal survey using the PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5) and the Tonic Immobility Scale to assess PTSD symptoms and the tonic immobility response, respectively. Multivariate regression models revealed a significant association between tonic immobility and PTSD symptoms. Each one-unit increase in the tonic immobility score was associated with a 1.5 % increase in the average PTSD symptom score six to twelve months after the traumatic event that triggered the tonic immobility. Furthermore, participants who showed significant or extreme levels of tonic immobility were 3.5 times or 7.3 times more likely to have a probable PTSD diagnosis, respectively. Hence, peritraumatic tonic immobility seems to have a lasting deleterious effect on mental health. Psychological treatment for health care professionals is urgent, and psychoeducation about the involuntary, biological nature of tonic immobility is essential to reduce suffering.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic induced psychological distress, which is linked to emotional eating and symptoms of addiction to ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Objective This study aimed to investigate whether symptoms of addiction to UPFs mediate the relationship between psychological stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic and emotional eating behaviour. Methods A cross-sectional online study was conducted from May to November 2021 among 368 undergraduate Brazilian students. The participants answered demographic questions and completed validated scales, including the Coronavirus Stress Measure, Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 and Emotional Eating Questionnaire. Mediation analysis was employed to examine the hypothesised relationships. Results The results revealed a significant indirect effect, indicating that symptoms of food addiction mediated the association between perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and emotional eating behaviour. Specifically, 61% of the influence of perceived stress on emotional eating during the pandemic was explained by symptoms of UPF addiction. Conclusion These findings suggest that addressing symptoms of UPF addiction could be pivotal in public health strategies aimed at promoting healthy eating habits among distressed undergraduate students in the post-COVID-19 era.

Front-of-pack labelling (FoPL) systems are essential nutrition policy tools that can help consumers identify when food products contain an excessive amount of critical nutrients, such as sugars, saturated/trans fats, and sodium. FoPL systems can modify consumer behaviour by decreasing consumers’ desire to purchase such products. Emotions significantly influence consumers’ purchase decisions; thus, research on the performance of FoPL systems should measure emotions. However, measuring emotional responses to food may be challenging because the dimensional aspects of emotions can be difficult to verbalize. The emotional content of visual stimuli, such as food, activates brain responses that can be assessed using the event-related potential technique (ERP), in which brain responses to specific stimuli are extracted from the electroencephalographic brain signal. In this review, we address how and why the ERP would help answer questions about the impact of FoPL systems on food-evoked emotions. We hope that this review bridges the fields of neuroscience and consumer food research and provides a foundation for future interdisciplinary research.

Background The present study aimed to apply multivariate pattern recognition methods to predict posttraumatic stress symptoms from whole-brain activation patterns during two contexts where the aversiveness of unpleasant pictures was manipulated by the presence or absence of safety cues. Methods Trauma-exposed participants were presented with neutral and mutilation pictures during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) collection. Before the presentation of pictures, a text informed the subjects that the pictures were fictitious (“safe context”) or real-life scenes (“real context”). We trained machine learning regression models (Gaussian process regression (GPR)) to predict PTSD symptoms in real and safe contexts. Results The GPR model could predict PTSD symptoms from brain responses to mutilation pictures in the real context but not in the safe context. The brain regions with the highest contribution to the model were the occipito-parietal regions, including the superior parietal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Additional analysis showed that GPR regression models accurately predicted clusters of PTSD symptoms, nominal intrusion, avoidance, and alterations in cognition. As expected, we obtained very similar results as those obtained in a model predicting PTSD total symptoms. Conclusion This study is the first to show that machine learning applied to fMRI data collected in an aversive context can predict not only PTSD total symptoms but also clusters of PTSD symptoms in a more aversive context. Furthermore, this approach was able to identify potential biomarkers for PTSD, especially in occipitoparietal regions.

GENERAL COMMENTARY article Front. Nutr., 08 December 2023Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology Volume 10 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1331250

O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar a possibilidade de predição dos sintomas do Transtorno de Estresse Pós-Traumático (TEPT) a partir dos padrões de atividade cerebral. Os participantes expostos a situações traumáticas foram submetidos a exames de Ressonância Magnética Funcional (RMf) enquanto eram expostos a fotos neutras e de corpos mutilados. Neste experimento, foram criados dois contextos de imagens aversivas (real e seguro). O modelo de aprendizado de máquina foi capaz de predizer sintomas de TEPT a partir de padrões de atividade cerebral em resposta às imagens de mutilação no contexto real, mas não no contexto seguro. As regiões cerebrais que apresentaram maior contribuição para o modelo foram as regiões occipitoparietais, incluindo o giro parietal superior e inferior, e o giro supramarginal.

Background: Healthcare workers are at high risk for developing mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need to identify vulnerability and protective factors related to the severity of psychiatric symptoms among healthcare workers to implement targeted prevention and intervention programs to reduce the mental health burden worldwide during COVID-19.Objective: The present study aimed to apply a machine learning approach to predict depression and PTSD symptoms based on psychometric questions that assessed: (1) the level of stress due to being isolated from one's family; (2) professional recognition before and during the pandemic; and (3) altruistic acceptance of risk during the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers.Methods: A total of 437 healthcare workers who experienced some level of isolation at the time of the pandemic participated in the study. Data were collected using a web survey conducted between June 12, 2020, and September 19, 2020. We trained two regression models to predict PTSD and depression symptoms. Pattern regression analyses consisted of a linear epsilon-insensitive support vector machine (ε-SVM). Predicted and actual clinical scores were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), the coefficient of determination (r2), and the normalized mean squared error (NMSE) to evaluate the model performance. A permutation test was applied to estimate significance levels.Results: Results were significant using two different cross-validation strategies to significantly decode both PTSD and depression symptoms. For all of the models, the stress due to social isolation and professional recognition were the variables with the greatest contributions to the predictive function. Interestingly, professional recognition had a negative predictive value, indicating an inverse relationship with PTSD and depression symptoms.Conclusions: Our findings emphasize the protective role of professional recognition and the vulnerability role of the level of stress due to social isolation in the severity of posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms. The insights gleaned from the current study will advance efforts in terms of intervention programs and public health messaging.

Proximity and interpersonal contact are prominent components of social connection. Giving affective touch to others is fundamental for human bonding. This brief report presents preliminary results from a pilot study. It explores if exposure to bonding scenes impacts the activity of specific muscles related to physical interaction. Fingers flexion is a very important component when performing most actions of affectionate contact. We explored the visuo-motor affective interplay by priming participants with bonding scenes and assessing the electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle, in the absence of any overt movements. Photographs of dyads in social interaction and of the same dyads not interacting were employed. We examined the effects upon the electromyographical activity: (i) during the passive exposure to pictures, and (ii) during picture offset and when expecting the signal to perform a fingers flexion task. Interacting dyads compared to matched non-interacting dyads increased electromyographic activity of the fingers flexor muscle in both contexts. Specific capture of visual bonding cues at the level of visual cortex had been described in the literature. Here we showed that the neural processing of visual bonding cues reaches the fingers flexor muscle. Besides, previous visualization of bonding cues enhanced background electromyographic activity during motor preparation to perform the fingers flexion task, which might reflect a sustained leakage of central motor activity downstream leading to increase in firing of the respective motor neurons. These data suggest, at the effector level, an implicit visuo-motor connection in which social interaction cues evoke intrinsic dispositions toward affectionate social behavior.

Background and objectives Ultra-processed food products (UPF) have been associated with numerous non-communicable diseases. Despite this, the addictive nature of UPF, and the aggressive marketing strategies used to promote them, has created a strong emotional connection between UPF and consumers, and supports their increasing UPF global consumption. In view of the emotional link that consumers often have with UPF, modulating emotional reactions to UPF (by using strategies such as textual warnings) is important in changing consumers’ behavior. Since emotions are better understood by assessing individuals’ implicit reactions, we conducted an electroencephalographic study applying the event-related potential technique to investigate whether textual warnings were able to modulate the brain responses to UPF stimuli. Materials and methods Twenty-six participants (19 women) viewed pictures of UPF preceded by a warning sentence about the health risks of consuming UPF or a control sentence while the electroencephalogram was recorded. In addition, the participants rated the picture in respect of pleasantness, arousal, and intention to consume. As emotions are associated with motivational circuits in the brain, we focused on a well-known event-related potential brain marker of the motivational relevance associated with emotional stimuli, namely late positive potential (LPP). Results The late positive potential amplitude was larger for pictures depicting UPF under the warning condition compared to the control condition, a result that was accompanied by lower pleasantness ratings during the warning condition (compared to the control). Conclusion Textual warnings about the negative health consequences of consuming UPF changed the emotional responses toward UPF, possibly increasing the motivation to avoid UPF. These results shed new light on the impact of textual warnings on UPF-evoked emotions.

Background: Evidence indicates that the processing of facial stimuli may be influenced by incidental factors, and these influences are particularly powerful when facial expressions are ambiguous, such as neutral faces. However, limited research investigated whether emotional contextual information presented in a preceding and unrelated experiment could be pervasively carried over to another experiment to modulate neutral face processing.Objective: The present study aims to investigate whether an emotional text presented in a first experiment could generate negative emotion toward neutral faces in a second experiment unrelated to the previous experiment.Methods: Ninety-nine students (all women) were randomly assigned to read and evaluate a negative text (negative context) or a neutral text (neutral text) in the first experiment. In the subsequent second experiment, the participants performed the following two tasks: (1) an attentional task in which neutral faces were presented as distractors and (2) a task involving the emotional judgment of neutral faces.Results: The results show that compared to the neutral context, in the negative context, the participants rated more faces as negative. No significant result was found in the attentional task.Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that incidental emotional information available in a previous experiment can increase participants’ propensity to interpret neutral faces as more negative when emotional information is directly evaluated. Therefore, the present study adds important evidence to the literature suggesting that our behavior and actions are modulated by previous information in an incidental or low perceived way similar to what occurs in everyday life, thereby modulating our judgments and emotions.

Background:Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are becoming extensively available in the food environments. UPF are industrial formulations that are designed to maximize palatability and consumption through a combination of calorie-dense ingredients and chemical additives. UPFs are also aggressively marketed, which may make them more attractive than unprocessed/minimally processed foods (UMPF). Since consumers' purchase decisions are guided by food-evoked emotions, we aimed to provide evidence that UPF visual cues trigger higher emotional responses and approach motivation than UMPF visual cues, with potential impacts on individuals' intention to consume the UPF over the UMPF.Methods:Participants (n = 174; 144 women; mean age = 20.7 years; standard deviation = 4.35) performed two tasks. In the first task, 16 pictures of foods (8 UPF and 8 UMPF), and 74 pictures from other affective categories, were presented. After viewing each picture, the participants rated it along two basic dimensions of emotion through the Self-Assessment Manikin scale: pleasantness and arousal. In the second task, the participants viewed the same food pictures, and they rated their intention to consume the foods depicted in the pictures. Each picture was plotted in terms of its mean pleasantness and arousal ratings in a Cartesian plane, which resulted in an affective space.Results:Pictures of UPF and UMPF were positioned in the upper arm of the boomerang-shaped affective space that represents approach motivation. Pictures containing UPF triggered higher approach motivation and intention to consume than pictures containing UMPF. We also found a stronger association between emotional responses and intention to consume UPF relative to UMPF.Conclusion:These results shed new light on the role of ultra-processed foods evoked emotions that contribute to less healthy and sustainable food environments.