Behaviourally assessed negative urgency is uniquely associated with binge-eating frequency

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Binge eating is often linked to impulsivity, particularly negative urgency.
• Self-report measures of negative urgency may be biased and incomplete.
• Experimental studies on affect manipulation in binge-eating populations are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between behavioral impulsivity, negative affect, and binge eating.
• To compare behavioral impulsivity measures with self-report measures of negative urgency.
• To explore the role of negative urgency in binge eating frequency.

Main Methods:

• Participants with regular binge-eating behavior completed a go/no-go task with food stimuli.
• The task was administered under conditions of induced negative affect and neutral affect.
• Behavioral impulsivity was assessed using high- and low-calorie food cues.

Main Results:

• Increased behavioral impulsivity towards high-calorie food cues during negative affect correlated with higher binge-eating frequency.
• Behavioral negative urgency uniquely predicted binge-eating frequency, even after controlling for self-reported negative urgency.
• Behavioral measures appear to complement self-report data for assessing negative urgency.

Conclusions:

• Findings support a significant link between negative urgency and binge eating.
• Behavioral impulsivity in negative affective states is a key factor in binge eating.
• Negative urgency presents a promising target for therapeutic interventions for binge eating.