Subjective and physiological reactivity to chocolate images in high and low chocolate cravers Sonia Rodrı ´guez a , Marı ´a Carmen Ferna ´ndez a , Antonio Cepeda-Benito b , Jaime Vila a, * a University of Granada, Granada, Spain b Texas A&M University, TX, USA Received 23 April 2004; accepted 29 October 2004 Available online 9 March 2005 Abstract Cue-reactivity to chocolate images was assessed using self-report and physiological measures. From a pre-screening sample of 454, young women were selected and assigned to high and low chocolate craving groups (N = 36/group). The experimental procedure consisted in the elicitation and measurement of the cardiac defense and startle reflexes while viewing chocolate and standard affective images selected from the International Affective Picture System. In response to chocolate images, high cravers reported more pleasure and arousal but less control than low cravers. In high cravers, viewing chocolate images inhibited the cardiac defense but potentiated the startle reflex, as compared to low cravers. The results confirmed at the physiological level that the motivational state that underlies the experience of chocolate craving include both appetitive (inhibition of the defense reflex) and aversive (potentiation of the startle response) components. The findings supported a motivational conflict theory of chocolate craving. # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Craving; Chocolate; Startle reflex; Eyeblink; Defense reflex; Heart rate; Emotion modulation; Motivational conflict 1. Introduction Women report that the food they crave most often is chocolate (Hill et al., 1991; Rogers and Smit, 2000). Chocolate consumers frequently describe their passion towards chocolate as an ‘‘addiction’’ and may label themselves as ‘‘chocoholics’’ (Rogers and Smit, 2000). Several reviews of the literature concur in noting the behaviors of chocolate addicts and drug addicts share many features (e.g., Benton, 2001; Hetherington, 2001; Rogers and Smit, 2000). For example, self-defined chocolate addicts find chocolate irresistible and eat it in excess, report positive mood and pleasure during chocolate consumption, but may also report negative mood in response to chocolate cues (Hetherington, 2001; Rogers and Smit, 2000). Baker et al. (1987) conceived drug cravings as affects organized within two distinct, mutually exclusive, motiva- tional pathways consisting of a ‘‘positive affect’’ and a ‘‘negative affect’’ network. The model follows Lang’s theory of motivation and attention, which suggests that positive and negative affects are associated with mutually opposed appetitive (consummatory) and aversive (defen- sive) motivational systems, respectively (e.g., Lang, 1995; Lang et al., 1997). The model predicts that the intensity of a defensive reflex (e.g., eye-blink startle) depends on the affective valence (positive mood versus negative mood) and the level of activation (calm versus activated) of the individual at the time of the stimulus-response event. An independently evoked defensive reflex should be potentiated or augmented when the individual is processing stimuli associated with negative affect and inhibited or reduced when the individual is processing stimuli associated with positive affect. Level of activation is presumed to enhance www.elsevier.com/locate/biopsycho Biological Psychology 70 (2005) 9–18 * Corresponding author. Present address: Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluacio ´n y Tratamiento Psicolo ´gico, Facultad de Psicologı ´a, Campus Universitario de la Cartuja, 18011 Granada, Spain. Tel.: +34 958 243753; fax: +34 958 243749. E-mail address: jvila@ugr.es (J. Vila). 0301-0511/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.10.001