The role of simulations in consumer experiences and behavior: insights from the grounded cognition theory of desire

What are the mechanisms by which extrinsic and environmental cues affect consumer experiences, desires, and choices? Based on the recent grounded cognition theory of desire, we argue that consumption and reward simulations constitute a central mechanism in these phenomena. Specifically, we argue that appetitive stimuli, such as specific product cues, can activate simulations of consuming and enjoying the respective products, based on previous learning experiences. These consumption and reward simulations can lead to motivated behavior, and can be modulated by state and trait individual differences, situational factors, and product-extrinsic cues. We outline the role of simulations within the grounded theory of desire, offering a theoretical framework for understanding motivational processes in consumer behavior. Then we illustrate the theory with behavioral, physiological, and neuroimaging findings on simulations in appetitive behavior and sensory marketing. Finally, we outline important issues for further research and applications for stimulating healthy, prosocial, and sustainable consumer choices

Role of appetitive phenotype trajectory groups on child body weight during a family-based treatment for children with overweight or obesity

OBJECTIVE:Emerging evidence suggests that individual appetitive traits may usefully explain patterns of weight loss in behavioral weight loss treatments for children. The objective of this study was to identify trajectories of child appetitive traits and the impact on child weight changes over time.METHODS:Secondary data analyses of a randomized noninferiority trial conducted between 2011 and 2015 evaluated children's appetitive traits and weight loss. Children with overweight and obesity (mean age = 10.4; mean BMI z = 2.0; 67% girls; 32% Hispanic) and their parent (mean age = 42.9; mean BMI = 31.9; 87% women; 31% Hispanic) participated in weight loss programs and completed assessments at baseline, 3, 6,12, and 24 months. Repeated assessments of child appetitive traits, including satiety responsiveness, food responsiveness and emotional eating, were used to identify parsimonious grouping of change trajectories. Linear mixed-effects models were used to identify the impact of group trajectory on child BMIz change over time.RESULTS:One hundred fifty children and their parent enrolled in the study. The three-group trajectory model was the most parsimonious and included a high satiety responsive group (HighSR; 47.4%), a high food responsive group (HighFR; 34.6%), and a high emotional eating group (HighEE; 18.0%). Children in all trajectories lost weight at approximately the same rate during treatment, however, only the HighSR group maintained their weight loss during follow-ups, while the HighFR and HighEE groups regained weight (adjusted p-value < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS:Distinct trajectories of child appetitive traits were associated with differential weight loss maintenance. Identified high-risk subgroups may suggest opportunities for targeted intervention and maintenance programs

A Dopamine-Acetylcholine Cascade: Simulating Learned and Lesion-Induced Behavior of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons

The "teaching signal" that modulates reinforcement learning at cortico-striatal synapses may be a sequence composed of an adaptively scaled DA burst, a brief ACh burst, and a scaled ACh pause. Such an interpretation is consistent with recent data on cholinergic interneurons of the striatum are tonically active neurons (TANs) that respond with characteristic pauses to novel events and to appetitive and aversive conditioned stimuli. Fluctuations in acetylcholine release by TANs modulate performance- and learning- related dynamics in the striatum. Whereas tonic activity emerges from intrinsic properties of these neurons, glutamatergic inputs from thalamic centromedian-parafascicular nuclei, and dopaminergic inputs from midbrain are required for the generation of pause responses. No prior computational models encompass both intrinsic and synaptically-gated dynamics. We present a mathematical model that robustly accounts for behavior-related electrophysiological properties of TANs in terms of their intrinsic physiological properties and known afferents. In the model balanced intrinsic hyperpolarizing and depolarizing currents engender tonic firing, and glutamatergic inputs from thalamus (and cortex) both directly excite and indirectly inhibit TANs. If the latter inhibition, probably mediated by GABAergic NOS interneurons, exceeds a threshold, its effect is amplified by a KIR current to generate a prolongued pause. In the model, the intrinsic mechanisms and external inputs are both modulated by learning-dependent dopamine (DA) signals and our simulations revealed that many learning-dependent behaviors of TANs are explicable without recourse to learning-dependent changes in synapses onto TANs

Simulating Effects of Learning and Lesions with a Model of Intrinsic and Synaptically Gated Responses of Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons

The giant cholinergic interneurons of the striatum are tonically active neurons (TANs) that respond with characteristic pauses to novel events and to appetitive and aversive conditioned stimuli. Fluctuations in acetylcholine release by TANs modulate performance- and learning-related dynamics in the striatum. Whereas tonic activity emerges from intrinsic properties of these neurons, glutamatergic inputs from thalamic centromedian-parafascicular nuclei, and dopaminergic inputs from midbrain, are required for the generation of pause responses. No prior computational models encompass both intrinsic and synaptically-gated dynamics. We present a mathematical model that robustly accounts for behavior-related electrophysiological properties of TANs in terms of their intrinsic physiological properties and known afferents. In the model, balanced intrinsic hyperpolarizing and depolarizing currents engender tonic firing, and glutamatergic inputs from thalamus (and cortex) both directly excite and indirectly inhibit TANs. If the latter inhibition, presumably mediated by GABAergic interneurons, exceeds a threshold, its effect is amplified by a KIR current to generate a prolonged pause. In the model, the intrinsic mechanisms and external inputs are both modulated by learning-dependent dopamine (DA) signals and our simulations revealed that many learning-dependent behaviors of TANs are explicable without recourse to learning-dependent changes in synapses onto TANs. The "teaching signal" that modulates reinforcement learning at cortico-striatal synapses may be a sequence composed of an adaptively scaled DA burst, a brief ACh burst, and a scaled ACh pause. Such an interpretation is consistent with recent data on cholinergic control of LTD of cortical synapses onto striatal spiny projection neurons.National Science Foundation (SBE-354378); Higher Education Council of Turkey; Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University of Turke

Associative memory stored by functional novel pathway rather than modifications of preexisting neuronal pathways

Associative conditioning involves changes in the processing pathways activated by sensory information to link the conditioned stimulus (CS) to the conditioned behavior. Thus, conditioning can recruit neuronal elements to form new pathways for the processing of the CS and/or can change the strength of existing pathways. Using a behavioral and systems level electrophysiological approach on a tractable invertebrate circuit generating feeding in the mollusk Lymnaea stagnalis, we identified three independent pathways for the processing of the CS amyl acetate used in appetitive conditioning. Two of these pathways, one suppressing and the other stimulating feeding, mediate responses to the CS in naive animals. The effects ofthese two pathways on feeding behavior are unaltered by conditioning. In contrast, the CS response ofa third stimulatory pathway is significantly enhanced after conditioning, becoming an importantcontributor to the overall CS response. This is unusual because, in most of the previous examples in which naive animals already respond to the CS, memory formation results from changes in the strength of pathways that mediate the existing response. Here, we show that, in the molluscan feeding system, both modified and unmodified pathways are activated in parallel by the CS after conditioning, and it is their integration that results in the conditioned respons

Frontostriatal Maturation Predicts Cognitive Control Failure to Appetitive Cues in Adolescents

Adolescent risk-taking is a public health issue that increases the odds of poor lifetime outcomes. One factor thought to influence adolescents' propensity for risk-taking is an enhanced sensitivity to appetitive cues, relative to an immature capacity to exert sufficient cognitive control. We tested this hypothesis by characterizing interactions among ventral striatal, dorsal striatal, and prefrontal cortical regions with varying appetitive load using fMRI scanning. Child, teen, and adult participants performed a go/no-go task with appetitive (happy faces) and neutral cues (calm faces). Impulse control to neutral cues showed linear improvement with age, whereas teens showed a nonlinear reduction in impulse control to appetitive cues. This performance decrement in teens was paralleled by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum. Prefrontal cortical recruitment correlated with overall accuracy and showed a linear response with age for no-go versus go trials. Connectivity analyses identified a ventral frontostriatal circuit including the inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal striatum during no-go versus go trials. Examining recruitment developmentally showed that teens had greater between-subject ventral-dorsal striatal coactivation relative to children and adults for happy no-go versus go trials. These findings implicate exaggerated ventral striatal representation of appetitive cues in adolescents relative to an intermediary cognitive control response. Connectivity and coactivity data suggest these systems communicate at the level of the dorsal striatum differentially across development. Biased responding in this system is one possible mechanism underlying heightened risk-taking during adolescence

Role of appetitive phenotype trajectory groups on child body weight during a family-based treatment for children with overweight or obesity.

ObjectiveEmerging evidence suggests that individual appetitive traits may usefully explain patterns of weight loss in behavioral weight loss treatments for children. The objective of this study was to identify trajectories of child appetitive traits and the impact on child weight changes over time.MethodsSecondary data analyses of a randomized noninferiority trial conducted between 2011 and 2015 evaluated children's appetitive traits and weight loss. Children with overweight and obesity (mean age = 10.4; mean BMI z = 2.0; 67% girls; 32% Hispanic) and their parent (mean age = 42.9; mean BMI = 31.9; 87% women; 31% Hispanic) participated in weight loss programs and completed assessments at baseline, 3, 6,12, and 24 months. Repeated assessments of child appetitive traits, including satiety responsiveness, food responsiveness and emotional eating, were used to identify parsimonious grouping of change trajectories. Linear mixed-effects models were used to identify the impact of group trajectory on child BMIz change over time.ResultsOne hundred fifty children and their parent enrolled in the study. The three-group trajectory model was the most parsimonious and included a high satiety responsive group (HighSR; 47.4%), a high food responsive group (HighFR; 34.6%), and a high emotional eating group (HighEE; 18.0%). Children in all trajectories lost weight at approximately the same rate during treatment, however, only the HighSR group maintained their weight loss during follow-ups, while the HighFR and HighEE groups regained weight (adjusted p-value < 0.05).ConclusionsDistinct trajectories of child appetitive traits were associated with differential weight loss maintenance. Identified high-risk subgroups may suggest opportunities for targeted intervention and maintenance programs

Dopaminergic and Non-Dopaminergic Value Systems in Conditioning and Outcome-Specific Revaluation

Animals are motivated to choose environmental options that can best satisfy current needs. To explain such choices, this paper introduces the MOTIVATOR (Matching Objects To Internal Values Triggers Option Revaluations) neural model. MOTIVATOR describes cognitiveemotional interactions between higher-order sensory cortices and an evaluative neuraxis composed of the hypothalamus, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex. Given a conditioned stimulus (CS), the model amygdala and lateral hypothalamus interact to calculate the expected current value of the subjective outcome that the CS predicts, constrained by the current state of deprivation or satiation. The amygdala relays the expected value information to orbitofrontal cells that receive inputs from anterior inferotemporal cells, and medial orbitofrontal cells that receive inputs from rhinal cortex. The activations of these orbitofrontal cells code the subjective values of objects. These values guide behavioral choices. The model basal ganglia detect errors in CS-specific predictions of the value and timing of rewards. Excitatory inputs from the pedunculopontine nucleus interact with timed inhibitory inputs from model striosomes in the ventral striatum to regulate dopamine burst and dip responses from cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area. Learning in cortical and striatal regions is strongly modulated by dopamine. The model is used to address tasks that examine food-specific satiety, Pavlovian conditioning, reinforcer devaluation, and simultaneous visual discrimination. Model simulations successfully reproduce discharge dynamics of known cell types, including signals that predict saccadic reaction times and CS-dependent changes in systolic blood pressure.Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409); National Institutes of Health (R29-DC02952, R01-DC007683); National Science Foundation (IIS-97-20333, SBE-0354378); Office of Naval Research (N00014-01-1-0624

Boldness and natural behaviors in the African lion (Panthera leo): How are they related?

The African lion (Panthera leo) population is diminishing rapidly, approximately 43% since 1993 (Bauer et al., 2016. The species is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN (Bauer et al., 2016). With numerous threats to current populations including human conflict, prey depletion and habitat loss the African lion is in danger of becoming endangered or even critically endangered in the near future. Ex-situ conservation is a proposed method of restoring populations. The current study focuses on correlations of boldness with natural behaviors and sociality to further understand individual personality in hopes of connecting it with success after reintroduction. Six playbacks were used to assess boldness personality traits of the 12 individuals of the Dambwa pride. Social interactions and daily activity budgets were also recorded. Spearman’s correlations were conducted in order to examine correlations between boldness sociality, and average daily activity