Fig. 3

Autonomic reactions during the test session. Healthy participants showed a specific pattern of defensive responses: the CS evoked significantly higher SCRs than the NS₁ and almost significantly higher than the NS₂. Instead, participants with obesity showed a generalized pattern of defensive reactions since SCRs were similarly strong to the CS and the NSs. CS-evoked responses were similar between groups but participants with obesity reacted stronger to both the NSs relative to the healthy participants. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. All data are mean and SEM. The level “0” corresponds to the pre-conditioning mean SCR response to the CS. 2 × 3 mixed ANOVA followed by Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc comparisons.