Goal Directed and Self-Control Systems in Bulimia Nervosa: An fMRI Study

Binge eating is apparently the opposite of the strict control over food intake typically set by "maladaptive dieters". Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the role of goal-directed behaviors, and the related use of self-control, in binge-related food choices in patients with Bulimia Nervosa (BN).

While undergoing fMRI, women aged 18-35 with BN (N = 35) and healthy control women (N = 26) rated foods for healthiness and tastiness and then made food choices on a 5 points Likert scale between two conflicting options: one food with lower healthiness and higher tastiness (defined as uncontrolled choice) than the other food (defined as controlled choice).

BN and healthy participants made more uncontrolled than controlled choices (63% vs 24% and 65% vs 18% respectively). While healthy participants used only food tastiness (chose tastier foods more often) to make food choices (p < .001), BN patients used both food healthiness (chose unhealthy food more often, p < .001) and food tastiness (p < .001) to make binge-related food choices. Activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which correlated with food choices (p_FWE = 0.02), reflected this difference in the integration of food healthiness and food tastiness into a decision value. Functional connectivity analysis showed that the activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was coupled with vmPFC activity in uncontrolled food choices (p_FWE = 0.03).

Contrary to what might be expected, not only food tastiness but also unhealthiness (a more abstract cognitive-based attribute than food tastiness) plays a role in uncontrolled choices in BN. These choices are likely goal-directed behaviors and recruit self-control.