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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children

An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children

Published on: October 4, 2018

Measuring Preference for Supernormal Over Natural Rewards : A Two-Dimensional Anticipatory Pleasure Scale.

B C Goodwin¹, M Browne¹, M Rockloff¹

¹School of Human, Health and Social Sciences, Central Queensland University, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.

Evolutionary Psychology : an International Journal of Evolutionary Approaches to Psychology and Behavior

|November 4, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a new scale to measure susceptibility to supernormal (SN) stimuli, which are artificial products that hijack reward pathways. This scale helps assess individual differences in preference for SN versus natural rewarding stimuli.

Keywords:

anticipatory pleasure scale natural stimuli reward supernormal stimuli

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Last Updated: Jul 11, 2025

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Science
Neuroscience
Psychology

Background:

Supernormal (SN) stimuli are artificial products designed to exploit natural reward pathways, often leading to excessive consumption.
Modern consumer products frequently incorporate SN features, driving preference over natural alternatives.
A validated self-report measure for assessing individual differences in susceptibility to SN stimuli is currently lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and validate a reliable self-report measure assessing differential preference for SN versus natural (N) rewarding stimuli.
To evaluate the measure's ability to predict consumption of products with SN features.

Main Methods:

Modification of an existing anticipatory pleasure scale to include items representing both SN and N rewarding stimuli.
Exploratory factor analysis to determine the underlying structure of the modified scale.
Regression analysis to assess the relationship between scale scores and self-reported consumption of SN products.

Main Results:

Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a two-factor solution, with N and SN items reliably loading on separate dimensions.
The developed scales demonstrated high internal reliability (ρ = .93 for N, ρ = .90 for SN).
Higher SN pleasure ratings predicted increased consumption of SN products, while N pleasure ratings showed neutral or negative associations.

Conclusions:

The newly developed two-dimensional measure appears to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing differential preference for SN stimuli.
The scale may be valuable for studying trait- and state-based variations in susceptibility to SN stimuli.
Further validation using experimental methods is recommended.