Ichiro Sekiya
  • Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan
Research fields
  • Stem cell
Anticipatory and Consummatory Responses to Touch and Food Rewards: A Protocol for Human Research
Authors:  Emilio Chiappini, Giorgia Silani and Sebastian Korb, date: 02/20/2022, view: 1324, Q&A: 0

Understanding the neural basis of reward processing is a major concern, as it holds the key to alleviating symptoms of addiction and poor mental health. However, this goal seems difficult to attain as long as research on reward processing cannot easily be compared across species and reward types, due to methodological differences and the presence of confounding factors. We recently developed an experimental paradigm that allows monitoring anticipatory and consummatory responses to matched social (touch) and nonsocial (food) rewards in adult humans. The following protocol describes in detail the materials and the paradigm, which measures reward wanting and liking with a real effort task and subjective ratings. It can also be used in combination with facial electromyography (EMG), brain imaging (e.g., fMRI), and pharmacological interventions. It is our firm belief that the field will profit greatly from more research being conducted on reward processing using this and similarly controlled paradigms, which allow for cross-species comparison.

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