Comparing the effectiveness of counterconditioning and extinction in reducing food cue reactivity

Such cue-elicited appetitive responses, collectively termed food cue reactivity, may lead to overeating, unsuccessful dieting, and weight gain. This study compared extinction and counterconditioning in reducing food cue reactivity, including outcome expectancies, craving, liking, and outcome-specific Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT).

We used a three-phase PIT paradigm: In the first two phases, participants learned Pavlovian and instrumental associations between two conditioned stimuli (CSs+) and two rewarding outcomes, as well as between two instrumental responses and the same outcomes. An additional stimulus was never paired with food outcomes (CS-). Participants then underwent either extinction or counterconditioning for one CS+ while the other CS+ remained unchanged, or they received no additional learning (control).