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Food Avoidance and Aversive Goal Value Computation in Anorexia Nervosa.
Siri Weider1,2, Megan E Shott3, Tyler Nguyen3
1Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Nutrients
|September 28, 2024
Summary
Neuroimaging reveals that individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) exhibit heightened brain activity in reward and aversion circuits when avoiding food, suggesting a role for aversive goal value processing in this behavior.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by food restriction and low body weight, but the underlying neurobiology of food avoidance remains unclear.
- Animal models suggest conditioned fear, involving the anterior cingulate and nucleus accumbens, may trigger food avoidance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of food avoidance in anorexia nervosa.
- To model food avoidance in AN using aversive goal value processing principles.
- To compare brain activation patterns during a food avoidance task between females with AN and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan 19 females with AN and 30 healthy controls.
- Participants completed a food avoidance task involving bidding money to avoid eating food items during free-bid and forced-bid trials.
- Brain activation was analyzed parametrically based on trial-by-trial bids.
Main Results:
- The AN group showed greater activation in the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, ventral anterior cingulate, and orbitofrontal cortex during free-bid trials compared to controls.
- Higher bids in the AN group correlated with increased caudate nucleus response.
- Emotion dysregulation and intolerance of uncertainty were inversely associated with nucleus accumbens activation during free-bid trials in AN.
Conclusions:
- Food avoidance in anorexia nervosa appears to involve aversive goal value computation within specific brain regions.
- The findings implicate the nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, anterior cingulate, and orbitofrontal cortex in the neurobiology of food avoidance in AN.
- This research provides a neurobiological framework for understanding food avoidance in AN through the lens of reward and aversion processing.
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