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Loizou P, Panagiotou G, Zanos P, Paraskevopoulos E. Exploring the neurofunctional impairments and cognitive biases concerning food and body related stimuli in anorexia nervosa: An integrated EEG and eye-tracking study protocol. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0299529. [PMID: 38547188 PMCID: PMC10977685 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) exhibit significant cognitive and neural disturbances compared to healthy individuals when processing food and body-related stimuli. These disturbances not only contribute to the manifestation and chronification of their pathological eating behaviour but also underscore the complex interplay of cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological factors in AN. However, the precise underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of these disturbances remain a compelling area of investigation. METHODS This study presents a protocol developed for conducting a cross-sectional quasi-experimental study using a mixed model ANOVA approach with a crossover design. Our participants will consist of 20 patients with an active diagnosis of AN, 20 Overweight/obese individuals, and 20 Healthy Controls (HCs) with a normal BMI. An integrated eye-tracking and EEG methodology will be used in conjunction, with the primary aim of assessing participants' cognitive and neural processing towards high and low-calorie food stimuli. On an exploratory level, by utilizing the same methods, the present study will also investigate AN patients' responses towards high weight, normal weight, low weight, and self-body pictures, as well as towards images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) characterized by elevated valence and arousal levels. Additionally, behavioural methods such as yes or no questions, and self-reported questionnaires will be administered. The EEG and eye-tracking data will be analysed at early (50-300 ms) and late (350-500 ms) time intervals. DISCUSSION The investigation of the underlying cognitive and neural processes employed by patients with AN during the processing of food and body-related stimuli can help us develop a better understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that contribute to the manifestation and maintenance of the disorder and assist in the development of more effective screening methods. ETHICAL APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE Ethical approval for the study has been obtained by the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee on 27.04.2023 (ΕΕΒΚ/ΕΠ/2023/19), and by the University of Cyprus (20.02.2023). Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Panos Zanos
- Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
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2
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Nuding L, Lukas L, Platt B, Schulte-Körne G, Sfärlea A. Look me in the eyes! A preliminary study on eye-contact in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW 2024; 32:13-19. [PMID: 37525386 DOI: 10.1002/erv.3016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Anorexia nervosa (AN) is often associated with impairments in the socio-emotional domain. Avoidance of eye-contact may underlie some of these difficulties and has been found in adults with AN in several studies. This study aimed to clarify whether adolescents with AN also show reduced eye-contact when viewing social stimuli, that is, faces. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, girls aged 12-18 years with AN (n = 38) were compared with a clinical (girls with depression and/or anxiety disorders; n = 30) and a healthy (n = 36) control group. Eye-contact was operationalised as maintenance of visual attention to the eye-area of faces showing different emotional expressions (happy, angry, afraid, sad, neutral), recorded via eye-tracking. RESULTS Contrary to our expectations, we did not find adolescents with AN to dwell less on the eye-area than control groups; instead, we found preliminary evidence for increased attention to the eye-area in the AN group compared to the healthy control group. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that reduced eye-contact found in adult AN samples is not (yet) present in adolescents with AN but may develop with the prolonged duration of the disorder. However, replication and longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this assumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Nuding
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Linda Lukas
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Belinda Platt
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Gerd Schulte-Körne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Anca Sfärlea
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
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3
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Iida N, Ono J, Mizuhara Y, Narumoto J. The subjective assessment of work and social adjustment impairments and associated psychopathologies in Japanese adult female patients with anorexia nervosa. PCN REPORTS : PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES 2023; 2:e151. [PMID: 38868735 PMCID: PMC11114435 DOI: 10.1002/pcn5.151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Aim Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) sometimes undergo a chronic course, and they hardly maintain social participation. Work and social adjustment impairments are generally significantly associated with the clinical symptoms of eating disorders. Psychopathologies associated with the subjective social difficulties of patients with AN have been unclear. This study examined the association between AN psychopathologies and work and social adjustment impairments in adult female patients with AN. Methods This study included 36 Japanese adult female patients with AN who completed the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to assess correlations between WSAS and EDI-2 or demographic variables. Results The mean age was 31.8 years, the mean current body mass index was 13.4 kg/m2, and the median illness duration was 5 years. Patients demonstrated social difficulties, especially in social leisure activities. The total WSAS scores were significantly correlated with EDI-2 "impulse regulation" and "asceticism." WSAS "social leisure" was significantly correlated with EDI-2 "bulimia," "interoceptive awareness," "impulse regulation," and "asceticism." Conclusion Psychopathologies, such as impulse regulation, asceticism, and interoceptive awareness, may be related factors to social difficulties. Emotion regulation, such as impulse regulation and emotional awareness, could be an important realm of treatment not only for psychopathology but also for social functioning in patients with AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoko Iida
- Department of PsychiatryKyoto Prefectural University ofKyotoJapan
| | - Junko Ono
- Department of PsychiatryKyoto Prefectural University ofKyotoJapan
- Kyoto Prefectural Comprehensive Mental Health and Welfare CenterKyotoJapan
| | - Yuki Mizuhara
- Department of PsychiatryKyoto Prefectural University ofKyotoJapan
- Department of Child PsychiatryKyoto Prefectural Child Development Support CenterKyotoJapan
| | - Jin Narumoto
- Department of PsychiatryKyoto Prefectural University ofKyotoJapan
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4
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Sfärlea A, Radix AK, Schulte-Körne G, Legenbauer T, Platt B. Attention Biases for Eating Disorder-Related Stimuli Versus Social Stimuli in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa - An Eye-Tracking Study. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 2023; 51:541-555. [PMID: 36418631 PMCID: PMC10017650 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-022-00993-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by attention biases for eating disorder-related information as well as altered attentional processing of social information. However, little is known about the interplay between the altered attentional processing of these two types of information. The present study investigates attention biases for eating disorder-related information (pictures of bodies) versus social information (pictures of faces), in adolescents with AN. Attention biases were assessed via eye-tracking during a passive-viewing task in which female bodies and faces were presented simultaneously and thus competed directly for attention. Female adolescents (13-18 years) with AN (n = 28) were compared to a clinical comparison group (adolescents with major depression; n = 20) and a comparison group of adolescents with no mental illness (n = 24). All groups looked longer at bodies than at faces, i.e., showed attention biases for bodies in maintenance of attention. These biases were more pronounced in adolescents with AN than in both comparison groups, particularly for underweight bodies, at the expense of looking less at social stimuli. The results indicate "dual" attention biases in adolescents with AN (i.e., towards bodies and away from emotional faces) which could have a twofold negative impact on eating disorder psychopathology: increased attention to eating disorder-related information might directly influence eating disorder symptoms while less attention to social information might have an indirect influence through the amplification of interpersonal difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anca Sfärlea
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Research Department, Nussbaumstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany.
| | - Anne Kathrin Radix
- LWL-University Clinic of the RUB Bochum, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics, Hamm, Germany
| | - Gerd Schulte-Körne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Research Department, Nussbaumstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany
| | - Tanja Legenbauer
- LWL-University Clinic of the RUB Bochum, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics, Hamm, Germany
| | - Belinda Platt
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Research Department, Nussbaumstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany
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5
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Frost-Karlsson M, Capusan AJ, Perini I, Olausson H, Zetterqvist M, Gustafsson PA, Boehme R. Neural processing of self-touch and other-touch in anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum condition. Neuroimage Clin 2022; 36:103264. [PMID: 36451367 PMCID: PMC9668667 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The tactile sense plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of a functional bodily self. The ability to differentiate between self- and nonself-generated touch contributes to the perception of the bodies' boundaries and more generally to self-other-distinction, both of which are thought be altered in anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum condition (AS). While it has been suggested that AN and AS are characterized by overlapping symptomatology, they might differ regarding body perception and self-other-distinction. METHODS Participants with a diagnosis of AN (n = 25), AS (n = 29), and a comparison group without diagnoses (n = 57) performed a self-other-touch task during functional brain imaging. In the experimental conditions, they stroked their own arm or were stroked on the arm by an experimenter. RESULTS As shown previously, the CG group showed lower activation or deactivation in response to self-touch compared to social touch from someone else. A main group effect was found in areas including somatosensory cortex, frontal and temporal gyri, insula, and subcortical regions. This was driven by increased activations in participants with AN, while participants in the AS group showed mostly comparable activations to the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS AN diagnosis was associated with an increased neural activity in response to both self-touch and social touch. Failure to attenuate self-touch might relate to altered predictions regarding the own body and reduced perception of bodily boundaries. Participants with an AS diagnosis were mostly comparable to the comparison group, potentially indicating unaltered tactile self-other-distinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morgan Frost-Karlsson
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Andrea Johansson Capusan
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Department of Psychiatry in Linköping and Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Irene Perini
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Center for Medical Imaging and Visualization, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Håkan Olausson
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Linköping University Hospital, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Center for Medical Imaging and Visualization, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Maria Zetterqvist
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Linköping and Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Per A. Gustafsson
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Linköping and Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Rebecca Boehme
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Center for Medical Imaging and Visualization, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden,Corresponding author at: Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, The Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
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6
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Jones E, Mason L, Hayward H, Murphy D, Loth E, Tchanturia K. Social attention in anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum disorder: Role of social motivation. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2022; 26:1641-1655. [PMID: 34845940 PMCID: PMC9483678 DOI: 10.1177/13623613211060593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Research suggests a relationship between autism and anorexia nervosa. For example, rigid and inflexible behaviour, a preference for routine and social difficulties are seen in both conditions. In this study, we examined whether people with anorexia and people with autism show similarities in social attention (where they look while engaging in social interactions or watching a scene with people interacting). This could help us understand why people with anorexia and autism experience difficulties in social situations. Participants with either anorexia or autism, as well as participants with no mental health problems watched a video of a social scene while we recorded which parts of the scene they looked at with an eye-tracker. Participants also completed questionnaires to assess characteristics of autism. We found that autistic participants looked at faces less than typically developing participants. However, participants with anorexia did not show a similar reduction in attention to faces, contrary to our predictions. Autistic features were not related to attention in either group. The results suggest that autistic people may miss important social cues (like facial expressions), potentially contributing to social difficulties. However, this mechanism does not appear explain social difficulties in people with anorexia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Kate Tchanturia
- King’s College London, UK
- South London and Maudsley NHS
Trust, UK
- Ilia State University,
Georgia
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7
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Erwin SR, Liu PJ, Datta N, Nicholas J, Rivera-Cancel A, Leary M, Chartrand TL, Zucker NL. Experiences of mimicry in eating disorders. J Eat Disord 2022; 10:103. [PMID: 35841035 PMCID: PMC9288029 DOI: 10.1186/s40337-022-00607-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND People unknowingly mimic the behaviors of others, a process that results in feelings of affiliation. However, some individuals with eating disorders describe feeling "triggered" when mimicked. This study explores the effects of implicit non-verbal mimicry on individuals with a history of an eating disorder (ED-His) compared to healthy controls (HCs). METHOD Women (N = 118, nED-His = 31; Mage = 21 years) participated in a laboratory task with a confederate trained to either discreetly mimic (Mimicry condition) or not mimic (No-Mimicry condition) the mannerisms of the participant. Participants rated the likability of the confederate and the smoothness of the interaction. RESULTS Participants in the No-Mimicry condition rated the confederate as significantly more likable than in the Mimicry condition, and ED-His rated the confederate as more likable than HCs. ED-His in the Mimicry condition rated the interaction as less smooth than HCs, whereas this pattern was not found in the No-Mimicry condition. Among ED-His, longer disorder duration (≥ 3.87 years) was associated with less liking of a confederate who mimicked and more liking of a confederate who did not mimic. CONCLUSIONS We discuss the implications of these findings for interpersonal therapeutic processes and group treatment settings for eating disorders. Our study on subtle, nonverbal mimicry revealed differences in social behavior for women with a history of an eating disorder compared to healthy women. For participants with an eating disorder history, a longer duration of illness was associated with a worse pattern of affiliation, reflected in lower liking of a mimicker. Further research on how diverging processes of affiliation may function to perpetuate the chronicity of eating disorders and implications for treatment is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Savannah R Erwin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
| | - Peggy J Liu
- Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Nandini Datta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Julia Nicholas
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Alannah Rivera-Cancel
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Mark Leary
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | | | - Nancy L Zucker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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8
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Murray SB, Zbozinek TD, Craske M, Tadayonnejad R, Strober M, Bari AA, O'Doherty JP, Feusner JD. Neural, physiological, and psychological markers of appetitive conditioning in anorexia nervosa: a study protocol. J Eat Disord 2022; 10:68. [PMID: 35538507 PMCID: PMC9092702 DOI: 10.1186/s40337-022-00546-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a chronic and disabling psychiatric condition characterized by low hedonic drive towards food, and is thought to be inclusive of altered dimensions of reward processing. Whether there exists a fundamental aberrancy in the capacity to acquire and maintain de novo hedonic associations-a critical component of hedonic responding-has never been studied in AN. METHODS This multi-modal study will employ a 2-day Pavlovian appetitive conditioning paradigm to interrogate the (1) acquisition, (2) extinction, (3) spontaneous recovery and (4) reinstatement of appetitive learning in adolescents and young adults with AN. Participants will be 30 currently ill, underweight individuals with AN; 30 weight-restored individuals with AN; and 30 age-matched healthy controls, all aged 12-22 years. All subjects will undergo clinical assessment, followed by the 2-day appetitive conditioning task during which fMRI, pupillometry, heart rate deceleration, and subjective ratings will be acquired. DISCUSSION This study will be the first to interrogate appetitive conditioning in AN-a disorder characterized by altered hedonic responding to food. Results will help establish objective biomarkers of appetitive conditioning in AN and lay the groundwork for developing novel lines of treatment for AN and other psychiatric disorders involving diminished ability to experience pleasure and reward. TRIAL REGISTRATION Pending. INTENDED REGISTRY Clinicaltrials.gov.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart B Murray
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California, 2250 Alcazar Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA.
| | - Tomislav D Zbozinek
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Michelle Craske
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Reza Tadayonnejad
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Michael Strober
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ausaf A Bari
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - John P O'Doherty
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jamie D Feusner
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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9
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Interpersonal functioning in hoarding: An investigation of the link between hoarding symptoms and social support, social anhedonia, and social rewards. JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS REPORTS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jadr.2022.100313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
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10
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Abstract
Anhedonia is frequently observed among individuals with eating disorders (ED), though its relevance to ED pathology and clinical outcomes remain poorly understood. This chapter will present the latest findings regarding anhedonia in ED, with the majority of data available for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). We consider anhedonia from the mechanistic lens of altered reward processing, with attention given to subjective experience, neurotransmitter function, neural correlates, and cognitive performance corresponding to distinct components of reward (i.e., liking, wanting, and learning). Findings from animal models are also highlighted. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for treatment and future directions aimed at better understanding anhedonia in ED.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan M Murray
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Carina S Brown
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Walter H Kaye
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Christina E Wierenga
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, San Diego, CA, USA.
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11
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Aberrant neural representation of food stimuli in women with acute anorexia nervosa predicts treatment outcome and is improved in weight restored individuals. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:532. [PMID: 34657121 PMCID: PMC8520531 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01630-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) has been associated with altered reward processing. We recently reported greater neural response in secondary visual areas when processing visual food stimuli in acutely underweight AN patients (acAN). In order to examine whether the observed alterations are indicative of acute undernutrition or a potential trait marker of AN, we set out to assess neural responses in acAN and in individuals weight-recovered from AN (recAN). FMRI data were collected from a total of 126 female volunteers, 35 acAN, 33 recAN, and 58 age-matched healthy controls (HC) while they viewed streams of food, social and neutral stimuli. A standard general linear model (GLM) was used to interrogate neural responses to the different stimuli in recAN vs. age-matched HC. Moreover, within-subject multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) in the two matched samples (acAN/HC and recAN/HC) were used to estimate neural representation of food vs. neutral, and social vs. neutral stimuli. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to test associations between the accuracy of the neural representation and treatment outcome. The GLM revealed no group differences between recAN and HC. The MVPAs showed greater classification accuracy of food stimuli in the posterior fusiform gyrus in acAN but not recAN. Classification accuracy was associated with better treatment outcome. Our findings suggest that the neural representation of food stimuli is altered in secondary visual areas in acAN and normalizes with weight recovery. Possibly this altered representation reflects attentional engagement motivating food intake, which may promote the recovery process.
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12
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Mason L, Jones E, Hayward H, Harrison A, Murphy D, Tchanturia K. Autistic Traits Mediate Reductions in Social Attention in Adults with Anorexia Nervosa. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:2077-2090. [PMID: 32910314 PMCID: PMC8124046 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04686-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with difficulties in social and emotional functioning. A significant proportion of individuals with AN show autistic traits, which may influence social attention. This study examined attention to faces and facial features in AN, recovered AN (REC), and healthy controls, as well as relationships with comorbid psychopathology. One hundred and forty-eight participants’ eye movements were tracked while watching a naturalistic social scene. Anxiety, depression, alexithymia, and autistic traits were assessed via self-report questionnaires. Participants with AN spent significantly less time looking at faces compared to REC and controls; patterns of attention to individual facial features did not differ across groups. Autistic traits mediated the relationship between group and time spent looking at faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK.
| | - Luke Mason
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Emily Jones
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Hannah Hayward
- Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Amy Harrison
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London, London, UK
- Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, National Eating Disorders Service, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Declan Murphy
- Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK
- Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, National Eating Disorders Service, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK
- Department of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, GA, USA
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13
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Hayward H, Jones EJH, Halls D, Murphy D, Tchanturia K. Autism symptoms in anorexia nervosa: a comparative study with females with autism spectrum disorder. Mol Autism 2021; 12:47. [PMID: 34193255 PMCID: PMC8247081 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-021-00455-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recent research suggests a link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anorexia nervosa (AN). Individuals with AN show high scores on measures of ASD symptoms, relative to individuals without AN, however, there are currently no studies directly comparing women with AN to women with ASD. The aim of the current study was to examine profiles of ASD symptoms in young women in the acute and recovered stages of AN, women with ASD, and typically developing controls (TD), on both self-report and clinical interview measures. Methods Four groups of participants aged 12–30 years were included (n = 218): AN, recovered AN (REC), ASD, and TD. Group differences on the Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd edition (SRS-2), 10-item Autism Quotient (AQ-10), and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2) were examined. To explore similarities and differences in specific symptom profiles associated with AN and ASD, individual item endorsement on the ADOS-2 was also examined in AN, REC, and ASD. Results Across measures, women with ASD showed the highest scores, and TDs the lowest. Generally, individuals with AN and REC showed intermediate levels of ASD symptoms, scoring between the other two groups. However, AN and ASD did not differ on restricted interests and repetitive behaviour subscales. The ADOS-2 item ‘quality of social response’ adequately discriminated between ASD and non-ASD participants. Limitations A full diagnostic assessment for ASD was not provided for participants with AN/REC, nor were eating disorders assessed in the ASD group. Therefore, some diagnostic overlap between groups is possible. The cross-sectional design is another limitation. Conclusions The results suggest similarities in scores on both self-report and clinical interview measures in AN and ASD. However, individual ADOS-2 item analyses also revealed subtle differences, particularly in reciprocal social interaction. ASD symptoms may be a combination of both state and trait features in AN. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13229-021-00455-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK.
| | - Hannah Hayward
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Emily J H Jones
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Halls
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK
| | - Declan Murphy
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK.,Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, National Eating Disorders Service, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK.,Department of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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14
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Paslakis G, Scholz-Hehn AD, Sommer LM, Kühn S. Implicit bias to food and body cues in eating disorders: a systematic review. Eat Weight Disord 2021; 26:1303-1321. [PMID: 32770476 PMCID: PMC8128803 DOI: 10.1007/s40519-020-00974-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Rigid, restrictive eating patterns, fear of gaining weight, body image concerns, but also binge eating episodes with loss of control leading to overweight, at times followed by compensatory measures to control weight, are typical symptoms in eating disorders (EDs). The regulation of food intake in EDs may underlie explicit processes that require cognitive insight and conscious control or be steered by implicit mechanisms that are mostly automatic, rapid, and associated with affective-rather than cognitive-processing. While introspection is not capable of assessing implicit responses, so-called indirect experimental tasks can assess implicit responses underlying a specific behavior by-passing the participant's consciousness. Here, we aimed to present the current evidence regarding studies on implicit biases to food and body cues in patients with EDs. METHODS We performed a systematic review (PRISMA guidelines). We included controlled studies performed in clinical ED cohorts (vs. healthy control subjects or another control condition, e.g., restrictive vs. binge/purge AN) and using at least one indirect assessment method of interest. RESULTS Out of 115 screened publications, we identified 29 studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria, and present a synthesis of the essential findings and future directions. CONCLUSION In this emerging field of research, the present work provides cornerstones of evidence highlighting aspects of implicit regulation in eating disorders. Applying both direct (e.g., self-reports) and indirect measures for the assessment of both explicit and implicit responses is necessary for a comprehensive investigation of the interplay between these different regulatory mechanisms and eating behavior. Targeted training of implicit reactions is already in use and represents a useful future tool as an add-on to standard psychotherapeutic treatments in the battle against eating disorders. EVIDENCE LEVEL 1 (systematic review).
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios Paslakis
- Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada. .,Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. .,Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Christian-Albrechts-University, Niemannsweg 147, 24105, Kiel, Germany.
| | - Anne Deborah Scholz-Hehn
- University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Laura Marie Sommer
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Erlangen, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Simone Kühn
- University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
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15
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Harrison A. Experimental Investigation of Non-Verbal Communication in Eating Disorders. Psychiatry Res 2021; 297:113732. [PMID: 33535088 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to be the first to measure non-verbal communication in 25 eating disorder (ED) and 25 non-ED control participants during a naturalistic social interaction incorporating positive, negative and neutrally-valenced topics. The first hypothesis, that ED participants would show significantly reduced facial emotional expression than controls, was not supported. Supporting the second hypothesis of between-group differences in non-verbal behaviour, ED participants were less likely to lean in towards their interlocutor (d=.81) discussing negatively-valanced topics and were more likely to be positioned upright when discussing positively-valenced topics (d=.1.09) than controls. Irrespective of emotional valence, ED participants positioned their gaze on their interlocutor significantly less (d=.29) and spent more time looking down (d=.54), or away than controls (d=.63). ED participants moved their hands along with speech significantly less (d=.63) and gestured fewer real/hypothetical/imagined images/actions/objects) than controls (d=.57), irrespective of emotional valence. Instead, ED participants indicated discomfort in the social interaction, touching their nose (d=.89) or playing with their nails (d=.95) more often than controls. ED participants, regardless of emotional valence, showed significantly lowered electro-dermal activity (d=.60) than controls, supporting the exploratory hypothesis. People with EDs appear to make less efficient use of non-verbal communication than controls.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Harrison
- Associate Professor in Psychology, University College London, Institute of Education, Department of Psychology and Human Development.
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16
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Haynos AF, Lavender JM, Nelson J, Crow SJ, Peterson CB. Moving towards specificity: A systematic review of cue features associated with reward and punishment in anorexia nervosa. Clin Psychol Rev 2020; 79:101872. [PMID: 32521390 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Revised: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 05/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Models of anorexia nervosa (AN) posit that symptoms are maintained through deficient reward and enhanced punishment processing. However, theoretical and empirical inconsistencies highlight the need for a more nuanced conceptualization of this literature. Our goal was to comprehensively review the research on reward and punishment responding in AN from a cue-specific lens to determine which stimuli evoke or discourage reward and punishment responses in this population, and, ultimately, what properties these rewarding and punishing cues might share. A systematic review interrogating reward and punishment responses to specific cues yielded articles (n = 92) that examined responses to disorder relevant (e.g., food) and irrelevant (e.g., money) stimuli across self-report, behavioral, and biological indices. Overall, in most studies individuals with AN exhibited aversive responses to cues signaling higher body weights, social contexts, and monetary losses, and appetitive responses to cues for weight loss behaviors and thinness. Findings were more mixed on responses to palatable food and monetary gains. Results highlight that reward and punishment responding in AN are context specific and may be affected by varied stimulus qualities (e.g., predictability, controllability, delay, effort). Increasing specificity in future research on reward and punishment mechanisms in AN will better inform development of precisely-targeted interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann F Haynos
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
| | - Jason M Lavender
- Military Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (MiCOR) Program, Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States of America; The Metis Foundation, San Antonio, TX, United States of America
| | - Jillian Nelson
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States of America
| | - Scott J Crow
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America; The Emily Program, St. Paul, MN, United States of America
| | - Carol B Peterson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America; The Emily Program, St. Paul, MN, United States of America
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17
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Halls D, Harrison A, Tchanturia K. Exploring Relationships Between Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Adults With Anorexia Nervosa: A Network Approach. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:401. [PMID: 32477185 PMCID: PMC7235355 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the past few decades, research has accumulated to suggest a relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Elevated ASD traits are present in around one third of those with AN, and there is some evidence to suggest that ASD traits are associated with more severe eating disorder (ED) psychopathology. The current study aimed to examine relationships between ED and ASD symptoms in individuals with a lifetime history of AN using network analysis. One hundred and one participants completed the ED Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2). A regularized partial correlation network was estimated using a graphical least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. Expected influence (EI) and bridge EI values were calculated to identify central and bridge symptoms respectively. Isolation, difficulties with relating to others, and feelings of tension during social situations were most central to the network, while poor self-confidence, concerns over eating around others, and concerns over others seeing one's body were the strongest bridge symptoms. Our findings confirm that interpersonal problems are central to ED psychopathology. They also suggest poor self-confidence and social anxiety-type worries may mediate the relationship between ED and ASD symptoms in those with a lifetime diagnosis of AN. Longitudinal studies examining fluctuations in symptoms over time may be helpful in understanding direction of causality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Halls
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Amy Harrison
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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18
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Mason L, Jones E, Hayward H, Ahmad J, Harrison A, Loth E, Murphy D, Tchanturia K. Emotion Recognition Abilities in Adults with Anorexia Nervosa are Associated with Autistic Traits. J Clin Med 2020; 9:E1057. [PMID: 32276387 PMCID: PMC7230901 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9041057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Difficulties in socio-emotional functioning are proposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). This study aimed to examine emotion recognition abilities in individuals in the acute and recovered stages of AN compared to healthy controls (HCs). A second aim was to examine whether attention to faces and comorbid psychopathology predicted emotion recognition abilities. The films expressions task was administered to 148 participants (46 AN, 51 recovered AN, 51 HC) to assess emotion recognition, during which attention to faces was recorded using eye-tracking. Comorbid psychopathology was assessed using self-report questionnaires and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd edition (ADOS-2). No significant differences in emotion recognition abilities or attention to faces were found between groups. However, individuals with a lifetime history of AN who scored above the clinical cut-off on the ADOS-2 displayed poorer emotion recognition performance than those scoring below cut-off and HCs. ADOS-2 scores significantly predicted emotion recognition abilities while controlling for group membership and intelligence. Difficulties in emotion recognition appear to be associated with high autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, rather than a feature of AN. Whether individuals with AN and high ASD traits may require different treatment strategies or adaptations is a question for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AB, UK;
| | - Luke Mason
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7JL, UK
| | - Emily Jones
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7JL, UK
| | - Hannah Hayward
- Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AB, UK
| | - Jumana Ahmad
- School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK
| | - Amy Harrison
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London, London WC1H 0AA, UK
- South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, London SE5 8AZ, UK
| | - Eva Loth
- Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AB, UK
| | - Declan Murphy
- Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AB, UK
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AB, UK;
- South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, London SE5 8AZ, UK
- Department of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia
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19
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Coniglio KA, Christensen KA, Haynos AF, Rienecke RD, Selby EA. The posited effect of positive affect in anorexia nervosa: Advocating for a forgotten piece of a puzzling disease. Int J Eat Disord 2019; 52:971-976. [PMID: 31361353 PMCID: PMC7176354 DOI: 10.1002/eat.23147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2019] [Revised: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex and life-threatening eating disorder. Current models of AN onset and maintenance have largely focused on the role of negative affect, while fewer models have described the role of positive affect (PA). Given that these theoretical models have informed current treatment approaches, and that treatment remains minimally effective for adults with AN, we advocate that targeting PA is one avenue for advancing maintenance models and by extension, treatment. We specifically propose that AN may arise and be chronically and pervasively maintained as a function of dysregulated PA in response to weight loss and weight loss behaviors (e.g., restriction, excessive exercise), to a degree that is not accounted for in existing models of AN. We present evidence from multiple domains, including biological, behavioral, and self-report, supporting the hypothesis that PA dysregulation in AN contributes to the maintenance of the disorder. We conclude with several specific avenues for treatment development research as well as a call for future work elucidating the biological correlates of PA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn A. Coniglio
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
| | - Kara A. Christensen
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Ann F. Haynos
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Renee D. Rienecke
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Edward A. Selby
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
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20
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Dinkler L, Rydberg Dobrescu S, Råstam M, Gillberg IC, Gillberg C, Wentz E, Hadjikhani N. Visual scanning during emotion recognition in long-term recovered anorexia nervosa: An eye-tracking study. Int J Eat Disord 2019; 52:691-700. [PMID: 30828832 DOI: 10.1002/eat.23066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2018] [Revised: 02/15/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To examine Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) and visual scanning behavior (eye-tracking) during FER in women long-term recovered from teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (recAN) with and without autism spectrum disorder (±ASD) and age-matched comparison women (COMP), using a sensitive design with facial emotion expressions at varying intensities in order to approximate real social contexts. METHOD Fifty-seven 38-47-year-old women (26 recAN of whom six with ASD, 31 COMP) participated in the study. They completed a non-verbal FER task, consisting of matching basic emotions at different levels of expression intensity with full emotional expressions. Accuracy, response time and visual scanning behavior were measured. RESULTS There were no differences between recAN-ASD and COMP in FER accuracy and visual scanning behavior during FER, including eye viewing and hyperscanning. In an exploratory analysis, recAN+ASD were more accurate than recAN-ASD in identifying expressions at low intensity, but not at medium or high expression intensity. Accuracy was not associated with the extent of attention to the eye region. DISCUSSION Our data indicate that women long-term recovered from adolescent-onset AN do not have deficits in basic FER ability and visual scanning behavior during FER. However, the presence of comorbid ASD might affect face processing in recovered AN. Future studies investigating basic FER in acute and recovered AN and other conditions need to ensure that the stimuli used are sensitive enough to detect potential deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Dinkler
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Sandra Rydberg Dobrescu
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Maria Råstam
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - I Carina Gillberg
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Christopher Gillberg
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Elisabet Wentz
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Nouchine Hadjikhani
- Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts
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21
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Barkus E, Badcock JC. A Transdiagnostic Perspective on Social Anhedonia. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:216. [PMID: 31105596 PMCID: PMC6491888 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2018] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are highly social beings, yet people with social anhedonia experience reduced interest in or reward from social situations. Social anhedonia is a key facet of schizotypal personality, an important symptom of schizophrenia, and increasingly recognized as an important feature in a range of other psychological disorders. However, to date, there has been little examination of the similarities and differences in social anhedonia across diagnostic borders. Here, our goal was to conduct a selective review of social anhedonia in different psychological and life course contexts, including the psychosis continuum, depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and autism spectrum disorders, along with developmental and neurobiological factors. Current evidence suggests that the nature and expression of social anhedonia vary across psychological disorders with some groups showing deficient learning about, enjoyment from, and anticipation of the pleasurable aspects of social interactions, while for others, some of these components appear to remain intact. However, study designs and methodologies are diverse, the roles of developmental and neurobiological factors are not routinely considered, and direct comparisons between diagnostic groups are rare-which prevents a more nuanced understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved. Future studies, parsing the wanting, liking, and learning components of social reward, will help to fill gaps in the current knowledge base. Consistent across disorders is diminished pleasure from social situations, subsequent withdrawal, and poorer social functioning in those who express social anhedonia. Nonetheless, feelings of loneliness often remain, which suggests the need for social connection is not entirely absent. Adolescence is a particularly important period of social and neural development and may provide a valuable window on the developmental origins of social anhedonia. Adaptive social functioning is key to recovery from mental health disorders; therefore, understanding the intricacies of social anhedonia will help to inform treatment and prevention strategies for a range of diagnostic categories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Barkus
- Cognitive Basis of Atypical Behaviour Initiative (CBABi), School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Johanna C. Badcock
- Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry (CCRN), Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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22
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Social motivation in autism: Gaps and directions for measurement of a putative core construct. Behav Brain Sci 2019. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x18002418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
This commentary highlights the observation that social motivation is usually an imprecisely specified construct. We suggest four social motivation conceptualizations across levels of analysis and explore where the target article situates among these. We then offer theoretical and practical guidance for operationalization and measurement of social motivation to support more comprehensive future research on this complex construct in the autism literature.
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23
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Harrison A, Tchanturia K. Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:102. [PMID: 30886590 PMCID: PMC6410675 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 02/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Recent models of eating disorders (EDs) have proposed social and emotional difficulties as key factors in the development and maintenance of the illness. While a number of studies have demonstrated difficulties in theory of mind and emotion recognition, little is known about empathic abilities in those with EDs. Further, few studies have examined the cognitive-affective empathy profile in EDs. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide a synthesis of empathy studies in EDs, and examine whether those with EDs differ from healthy controls (HC) on self-reported total, cognitive, and affective empathy. Methods: Electronic databases were systematically searched for studies using self-report measures of empathy in ED populations. In total, 17 studies were identified, 14 of which could be included in the total empathy meta-analysis. Eight of the 14 studies were included in the cognitive and affective empathy meta-analyses. Results: Meta-analyses showed that while total empathy and affective empathy scores did not differ between those with anorexia nervosa (AN) and HC, those with AN had significantly lower cognitive empathy scores compared to HCs (small effect size). Meta-analyses of Interpersonal Reactivity Index sub-scores revealed that AN had significantly lower Fantasy scores than HC (small effect size), indicating that those with AN have more difficulty in identifying themselves with fictional characters. Only 3 studies examined empathy in those with bulimia nervosa (BN) or binge eating disorder (BED). Conclusions: The lowered cognitive empathy and intact affective empathy profile found in AN is similar to that found in other psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These findings add to the literature characterizing the socio-emotional phenotype in EDs. Future research should examine the influence of comorbid psychopathology on empathy in EDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Amy Harrison
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.,Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, London, United Kingdom.,Department of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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24
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Kerr-Gaffney J, Harrison A, Tchanturia K. Eye-tracking research in eating disorders: A systematic review. Int J Eat Disord 2018; 52:3-27. [PMID: 30582199 DOI: 10.1002/eat.22998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 10/18/2018] [Accepted: 11/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Those with eating disorders (EDs) show attentional biases to disorder-relevant stimuli, such as food and body shape information. However, attentional bias research in EDs largely relies on reaction time based measures, which are limited in their ability to assess different components and the time course of attention. Eye-tracking paradigms have therefore been utilized to provide greater ecological validity, and directly capture the detailed sequence of processes in perception and attention. While numerous studies have examined eye movements in the mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders, there has been a lack of studies in EDs. The purpose of this qualitative review is to provide a summary of eye-tracking studies in clinical ED populations. METHOD The review was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. Electronic databases were systematically searched to identify studies examining gaze parameters in ED compared to healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-one studies met inclusion criteria. RESULTS Across ED diagnoses, there was evidence of attentional biases towards food and body stimuli. In addition, differential patterns of attention to social information, and differences in smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements were found in anorexia nervosa (AN). DISCUSSION Findings are discussed in relation to research in other psychiatric disorders, and recommendations for future studies using eye-tracking in EDs are given. The findings add to the wider literature on attentional biases in EDs, and provide potential avenues for treatment. IJED-18-0331.R1. Investigación de seguimiento ocular en trastornos de la conducta alimentaria: una revisión sistemática.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jess Kerr-Gaffney
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK
| | - Amy Harrison
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London, London, UK
- South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, London, UK
| | - Kate Tchanturia
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK
- South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, National Eating Disorders Service, Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group, London, UK
- Institute of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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Harrison A, Watterson SV, Bennett SD. An experimental investigation into the use of eye-contact in social interactions in women in the acute and recovered stages of anorexia nervosa. Int J Eat Disord 2018; 52:61-70. [PMID: 30578634 DOI: 10.1002/eat.22993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 11/11/2018] [Accepted: 11/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE People with anorexia nervosa (AN) report significant difficulties in social functioning and a growing literature is beginning to explain some of the differences in social skills that might underlie the social challenges experienced by patients. One vital area of social functioning that has been largely neglected to date is how eye-contact is used in the context of social stimuli and in social situations. METHODS This cross-sectional, experimental study used eye-tracking to measure the frequency and duration of eye-contact made with the eye region of interest (ROI) of (1) static social stimuli (man and woman Ekman faces displaying basic emotions); (2) moving social stimuli (a video of two actors conversing); and (3) during a real-life social interaction in 75 women (25 with AN, 25 recovered from AN, and 25 non-AN controls; mean age = 27.18, SD = 6.19). RESULTS Participants showed greater eye-contact during a real-life social interaction than when viewing static social stimuli. Those with AN made contact with the eye ROI of the static and moving social stimuli and during a real-life social interaction significantly less often and for significantly less time than non-AN controls. Those recovered from AN showed greater eye-contact than the acute group but significantly less eye-contact with the eye ROI across the static and moving social stimuli and during the real-life social interaction than non-AN controls. DISCUSSION These findings contribute new knowledge regarding the types of social skills that people with AN may need additional support with to allow them to make greater use of social support in their recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Harrison
- University College London, Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom
- School of Psychotherapy and Psychology, Regent's University London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Stephanie V Watterson
- School of Psychotherapy and Psychology, Regent's University London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Samuel D Bennett
- School of Psychotherapy and Psychology, Regent's University London, London, United Kingdom
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Sweitzer MM, Watson KK, Erwin SR, Winecoff AA, Datta N, Huettel S, Platt ML, Zucker NL. Neurobiology of social reward valuation in adults with a history of anorexia nervosa. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0205085. [PMID: 30513084 PMCID: PMC6279022 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a disorder characterized by atypical patterns of reward valuation (e.g. positive valuation of hunger). Atypical reward processing may extend into social domains. If so, such findings would be of prognostic significance as impaired social functioning predicts worse outcome. We explore neural circuits implicated in social reward processing in individuals with a history of AN who are weight-restored relative to controls and examine the effects of illness course on the experience of social value. Method 20 weight-restored individuals with a history of AN (AN-WR) and 24 healthy control (HC) participants were assessed using fMRI tasks that tapped social reward: smiling faces and full human figures that varied in attractiveness and weight. Results AN-WR differed from HC in attractiveness ratings by weight (negatively correlated in AN-WR). While there were no significant differences when viewing smiling faces, viewing full figures resulted in decreased activation in regions implicated in reward valuation (the right caudate) for AN-WR and this region was negatively correlated with a sustained course of the disorder. Exploratory whole brain analyses revealed reduced activation in regions associated with social reward, self-referential processing, and cognitive reappraisal (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex, striatum, and nucleus accumbens) with sustained disorder course. Discussion The rewarding value of full body images decreases with a sustained disorder course. This may reflect an extension of atypical reward processing documented in AN-WR, perhaps as a function of starvation dampening visceral motivational signals; the deployment of cognitive strategies that lessen the experience of reward; and/or the nature of the stimuli themselves as provocative of eating disorder symptoms (e.g., thin bodies). These findings did not extend to smiling face stimuli. Advances in technology (e.g., virtual avatars, text messaging) may provide novel means to build relationships, including therapeutic relationships, to support improved social connections without threats to symptom provocation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggie M. Sweitzer
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Karli K. Watson
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Savannah R. Erwin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Amy A. Winecoff
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Nandini Datta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Scott Huettel
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Michael L. Platt
- Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Marketing Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Nancy L. Zucker
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Safra L, Ioannou C, Amsellem F, Delorme R, Chevallier C. Distinct effects of social motivation on face evaluations in adolescents with and without autism. Sci Rep 2018; 8:10648. [PMID: 30006527 PMCID: PMC6045598 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-28514-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual differences in social motivation have an influence on many behaviours in both clinical and non-clinical populations. As such, social motivation has been identified as a biological trait that is particularly well-suited for dimensional approaches cutting across neuropsychological conditions. In the present paper, we tested whether social motivation had a similar impact in the general population and in a neuropsychological condition characterized by diminished social motivation: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). More precisely, we evaluated the effect of social motivation on face evaluations in 20 adolescents with ASD and 20 matched controls using avatars parametrically varying in dominance and trustworthiness. In line with previous research, we found in the control group that participants with higher levels of social motivation relied more on perceived trustworthiness when producing likeability judgments. However, this pattern was not found in the ASD group. Social motivation thus appears to have a different effect in ASD and control populations, which raises questions about the relevance of subclinical or non-clinical populations to understand ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lou Safra
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Inserm unit 960, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France.
| | - Christina Ioannou
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Inserm unit 960, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Frédérique Amsellem
- Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Hôpital Universitaire Robert Debré, Paris, 75019, France.,Génétique Humaine et Fonction Cognitive, Institut Pasteur, Paris, 75015, France
| | - Richard Delorme
- Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Hôpital Universitaire Robert Debré, Paris, 75019, France.,Génétique Humaine et Fonction Cognitive, Institut Pasteur, Paris, 75015, France
| | - Coralie Chevallier
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Inserm unit 960, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France.
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Via E, Goldberg X, Sánchez I, Forcano L, Harrison BJ, Davey CG, Pujol J, Martínez-Zalacaín I, Fernández-Aranda F, Soriano-Mas C, Cardoner N, Menchón JM. Self and other body perception in anorexia nervosa: The role of posterior DMN nodes. World J Biol Psychiatry 2018; 19:210-224. [PMID: 27873550 DOI: 10.1080/15622975.2016.1249951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Body image distortion is a core symptom of anorexia nervosa (AN), which involves alterations in self- (and other's) evaluative processes arising during body perception. At a neural level, self-related information is thought to rely on areas of the so-called default mode network (DMN), which, additionally, shows prominent synchronised activity at rest. METHODS Twenty female patients with AN and 20 matched healthy controls were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging when: (a) viewing video clips of their own body and another's body; (b) at rest. Between-group differences within the DMN during task performance were evaluated and further explored for task-related and resting-state-related functional connectivity alterations. RESULTS AN patients showed a hyperactivation of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex during their own-body processing but a response failure to another's body processing at the precuneus and ventral PCC. Increased task-related connectivity was found between dPCC-dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and precuneus-mid-temporal cortex. Further, AN patients showed decreased resting-state connectivity between the dPCC and the angular gyrus. CONCLUSIONS The PCC and the precuneus are suggested as key components of a network supporting self-other-evaluative processes implicated in body distortion, while the existence of DMN alterations at rest might reflect a sustained, task-independent breakdown within this network in AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Via
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain.,b Department of Clinical Sciences , School of Medicine, University of Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain.,c Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry , The University of Melbourne , Melbourne , Australia.,d Depression and Anxiety Program, Mental Health Department , Parc Taulí Sabadell University Hospital , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Ximena Goldberg
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain.,d Depression and Anxiety Program, Mental Health Department , Parc Taulí Sabadell University Hospital , Barcelona , Spain.,e CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Isabel Sánchez
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Laura Forcano
- f Clinical research group in human pharmacology and neuroscience , IMIM Research Institute at the Hospital de Mar , Barcelona , Spain.,g CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn) , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Ben J Harrison
- c Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry , The University of Melbourne , Melbourne , Australia
| | - Christopher G Davey
- c Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry , The University of Melbourne , Melbourne , Australia.,h Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health , Melbourne , Australia
| | - Jesús Pujol
- i MRI Research Unit , Hospital del Mar, CIBERSAM G21 , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Fernando Fernández-Aranda
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain.,b Department of Clinical Sciences , School of Medicine, University of Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain.,g CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn) , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Barcelona , Spain
| | - Carles Soriano-Mas
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain.,e CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Barcelona , Spain.,j Department of Psychobiology and Methodology in Health Sciences , Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , Spain
| | - Narcís Cardoner
- d Depression and Anxiety Program, Mental Health Department , Parc Taulí Sabadell University Hospital , Barcelona , Spain.,k Department of Psychiatry , Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , Spain
| | - José M Menchón
- a Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) , Barcelona , Spain.,b Department of Clinical Sciences , School of Medicine, University of Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain.,e CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Barcelona , Spain
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Social resource foraging is guided by the principles of the Marginal Value Theorem. Sci Rep 2017; 7:11274. [PMID: 28900299 PMCID: PMC5596022 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11763-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Optimality principles guide how animals adapt to changing environments. During foraging for nonsocial resources such as food and water, species across taxa obey a strategy that maximizes resource harvest rate. However, it remains unknown whether foraging for social resources also obeys such a strategic principle. We investigated how primates forage for social information conveyed by conspecific facial expressions using the framework of optimal foraging theory. We found that the canonical principle of Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) also applies to social resources. Consistent with MVT, rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) spent more time foraging for social information when alternative sources of information were farther away compared to when they were closer by. A comparison of four models of patch-leaving behavior confirmed that the MVT framework provided the best fit to the observed foraging behavior. This analysis further demonstrated that patch-leaving decisions were not driven simply by the declining value of the images in the patch, but instead were dependent upon both the instantaneous social value intake rate and current time in the patch.
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Pila E, Jovanov K, Welsh TN, Sabiston CM. Body-part compatibility effects are modulated by the tendency for women to experience negative social comparative emotions and the body-type of the model. PLoS One 2017. [PMID: 28632746 PMCID: PMC5478157 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Although exposure to physique-salient media images of women’s bodies has been consistently linked with negative psychological consequences, little is known about the cognitive processes that lead to these negative effects. The present study employed a novel adaptation of a computerized response time (RT) task to (i) assess implicit cognitive processing when exposed to the body of another individual, and (ii) examine individual differences in social comparative emotions that may influence the cognitive processing of human bodies. Adult females with low (n = 44) or high (n = 23) tendencies for comparative emotions completed a task in which they executed responses to coloured targets presented on the hands or feet of images of ultra-thin, average-size, and above average-size female models. Although the colour of the target is the only relevant target feature, it is typically found that the to-be-ignored location of the target on the body of the model influences RTs such that RTs are shorter when the target is on a body-part that is compatible with the responding limb (e.g., hand response when target was on hand) than on a body-part that is incompatible with the responding limb (e.g., hand response when target was on foot). Findings from the present study revealed that the magnitude of the body-part compatibility effect (i.e., the index of the cognitive processing of the model) was modulated by tendencies for affective body-related comparisons. Specifically, women who were prone to experiencing social comparative emotions demonstrated stronger and more consistent body-part compatibility effects across models. Therefore, women with higher social comparison tendencies have heightened processing of bodies at a neurocognitive level and may be at higher risk of the negative outcomes linked with physique-salient media exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Pila
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Kimberely Jovanov
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Timothy N. Welsh
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Catherine M. Sabiston
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Ambrosecchia M, Ardizzi M, Russo E, Ditaranto F, Speciale M, Vinai P, Todisco P, Maestro S, Gallese V. Interoception and Autonomic Correlates during Social Interactions. Implications for Anorexia. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:219. [PMID: 28567008 PMCID: PMC5434670 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2016] [Accepted: 04/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the bodily-self in Restrictive Anorexia, focusing on two basic aspects related to the bodily self: autonomic strategies in social behavior, in which others' social desirability features, and social cues (e.g., gaze) are modulated, and interoception (i.e., the sensitivity to stimuli originating inside the body). Furthermore, since previous studies carried out on healthy individuals found that interoception seems to contribute to the autonomic regulation of social behavior, as measured by Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), we aimed to explore this link in anorexia patients, whose ability to perceive their bodily signal seems to be impaired. To this purpose, we compared a group of anorexia patients (ANg; restrictive type) with a group of Healthy Controls (HCg) for RSA responses during both a resting state and a social proxemics task, for their explicit judgments of comfort in social distances during a behavioral proxemics task, and for their Interoceptive Accuracy (IA). The results showed that ANg displayed significantly lower social disposition and a flattened autonomic reactivity during the proxemics task, irrespective of the presence of others' socially desirable features or social cues. Moreover, unlike HCg, the autonomic arousal of ANg did not guide behavioral judgments of social distances. Finally, IA was strictly related to social disposition in both groups, but with opposite trends in ANg. We conclude that autonomic imbalance and its altered relationship with interoception might have a crucial role in anorexia disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianna Ambrosecchia
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of ParmaParma, Italy
| | - Martina Ardizzi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of ParmaParma, Italy
| | - Elisa Russo
- Casa di Cura, Villa MargheritaVicenza, Italy
| | - Francesca Ditaranto
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Fondazione Stella MarisPisa, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Sandra Maestro
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Fondazione Stella MarisPisa, Italy
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of ParmaParma, Italy
- Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of LondonLondon, UK
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Stramaccia DF, Penolazzi B, Libardi A, Genovese A, Castelli L, Palomba D, Galfano G. Control over interfering memories in eating disorders. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2017; 40:30-44. [PMID: 28398162 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2017.1313392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Recent studies have suggested that patients suffering from either anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) exhibit abnormal performance in the ability to control cognitive interference in response selection. METHOD We assessed the status of cognitive control in episodic memory by addressing the ability to inhibit interfering memories. To this end, we used the retrieval-practice paradigm, which allows for measuring both the beneficial and the detrimental effects of memory practice. The latter phenomenon, known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), is thought to reflect an adaptive inhibitory mechanism aimed at reducing competition in memory retrieval. Twenty-seven healthy controls and 27 patients suffering from eating disorders (either AN or BN) performed a retrieval-practice paradigm and a control task addressing general reactivity and filled a self-report questionnaire on impulsivity. RESULTS No differences between patients and healthy controls were observed for the beneficial effects of practice. The same pattern also emerged for RIF. However, when patients with AN and BN were analyzed separately, a clear dissociation emerged: patients with AN displayed no hint of RIF, whereas patients with BN showed an intact memory suppression performance. No group differences emerged in the control task. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest a specific impairment in the ability to suppress interfering memories in patients with AN, thus extending current evidence of cognitive control deficits in AN to episodic memory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Barbara Penolazzi
- b Department of Life Sciences , University of Trieste , Trieste , Italy
| | - Arianna Libardi
- a Department of Developmental and Social Psychology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy
| | - Aldo Genovese
- c Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari , Trento , Italy
| | - Luigi Castelli
- a Department of Developmental and Social Psychology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy
| | - Daniela Palomba
- d Department of General Psychology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- a Department of Developmental and Social Psychology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy
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Moody T, Shen VW, Hutcheson NL, Henretty JR, Sheen CL, Strober M, Feusner JD. Appearance evaluation of others' faces and bodies in anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:127-138. [PMID: 27566987 PMCID: PMC5345932 DOI: 10.1002/eat.22604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2016] [Revised: 07/22/2016] [Accepted: 07/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) exhibit distorted perception and negative evaluations of their own appearance; however, little is known about how they perceive others' appearance, and whether or not the conditions share perceptual distortions. METHOD Thirty participants with BDD, 22 with AN, now weight-restored, and 39 healthy comparison participants (HC) rated photographs of others' faces and bodies on attractiveness, how overweight or underweight they were, and how much photographs triggered thoughts of their own appearance. We compared responses among groups by stimulus type and by level-of-detail (spatial frequency). RESULTS Compared to HCs, AN and BDD had lower attractiveness ratings for others' bodies and faces for high-detail and low-detail images, rated bodies as more overweight, and were more triggered to think of their own appearance for faces and bodies. In AN, symptom severity was associated with greater triggering of thoughts of own appearance and higher endorsement of overweight ratings for bodies. In BDD, symptom severity was associated with greater triggering of thoughts of own appearance for bodies and higher overweight ratings for low-detail images. BDD was more triggered to think of own facial appearance than AN. DISCUSSION AN and BDD show similar behavioral phenotypes of negative appearance evaluations for others' faces and bodies, and have thoughts of their own appearance triggered even for images outside of their primary appearance concerns, suggesting a more complex cross-disorder body-image phenotype than previously assumed. Future treatment strategies may benefit from addressing how these individuals evaluate others in addition to themselves. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.(Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:127-138).
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Affiliation(s)
- Teena Moody
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Vivian W. Shen
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Nathan L. Hutcheson
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | | | - Courtney L Sheen
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Michael Strober
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Jamie D. Feusner
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, The University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
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Chevallier C, Tonge N, Safra L, Kahn D, Kohls G, Miller J, Schultz RT. Measuring Social Motivation Using Signal Detection and Reward Responsiveness. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0167024. [PMID: 27907025 PMCID: PMC5132309 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2016] [Accepted: 11/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recent trends in psychiatry have emphasized the need for a shift from categorical to dimensional approaches. Of critical importance to this transformation is the availability of tools to objectively quantify behaviors dimensionally. The present study focuses on social motivation, a dimension of behavior that is central to a range of psychiatric conditions but for which a particularly small number of assays currently exist. Methods In Study 1 (N = 48), healthy adults completed a monetary reward task and a social reward task, followed by completion of the Chapman Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales. In Study 2 (N = 26), an independent sample was recruited to assess the robustness of Study 1’s findings. Results The reward tasks were analyzed using signal detection theory to quantify how much reward cues bias participants’ responses. In both Study 1 and Study 2, social anhedonia scores were negatively correlated with change in response bias in the social reward task but not in the monetary reward task. A median split on social anhedonia scores confirmed that participants with high social anhedonia showed less change in response bias in the social reward task compared to participants with low social anhedonia. Conclusions This study confirms that social anhedonia selectively affects how much an individual changes their behavior based on the presence of socially rewarding cues and establishes a tool to quantify social reward responsiveness dimensionally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Coralie Chevallier
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- Laboratoire des Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), INSERM U960, ENS-PSL, Paris, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Natasha Tonge
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Lou Safra
- Laboratoire des Neurosciences Cognitives (LNC), INSERM U960, ENS-PSL, Paris, France
| | - David Kahn
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Gregor Kohls
- Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Judith Miller
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
| | - Robert T. Schultz
- Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
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Sfärlea A, Greimel E, Platt B, Bartling J, Schulte-Körne G, Dieler AC. Alterations in neural processing of emotional faces in adolescent anorexia nervosa patients – an event-related potential study. Biol Psychol 2016; 119:141-55. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2015] [Revised: 06/17/2016] [Accepted: 06/19/2016] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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Chelnokova O, Laeng B, Løseth G, Eikemo M, Willoch F, Leknes S. The µ-opioid system promotes visual attention to faces and eyes. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016; 11:1902-1909. [PMID: 27531386 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2016] [Revised: 07/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Paying attention to others' faces and eyes is a cornerstone of human social behavior. The µ-opioid receptor (MOR) system, central to social reward-processing in rodents and primates, has been proposed to mediate the capacity for affiliative reward in humans. We assessed the role of the human MOR system in visual exploration of faces and eyes of conspecifics. Thirty healthy males received a novel, bidirectional battery of psychopharmacological treatment (an MOR agonist, a non-selective opioid antagonist, or placebo, on three separate days). Eye-movements were recorded while participants viewed facial photographs. We predicted that the MOR system would promote visual exploration of faces, and hypothesized that MOR agonism would increase, whereas antagonism decrease overt attention to the information-rich eye region. The expected linear effect of MOR manipulation on visual attention to the stimuli was observed, such that MOR agonism increased while antagonism decreased visual exploration of faces and overt attention to the eyes. The observed effects suggest that the human MOR system promotes overt visual attention to socially significant cues, in line with theories linking reward value to gaze control and target selection. Enhanced attention to others' faces and eyes represents a putative behavioral mechanism through which the human MOR system promotes social interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Chelnokova
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0317, Norway
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0317, Norway
| | - Guro Løseth
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0317, Norway
| | - Marie Eikemo
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0317, Norway.,Norwegian Center for Addiction Research, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0318, Norway.,Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo N-0318, Norway
| | - Frode Willoch
- Department of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway
| | - Siri Leknes
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0317, Norway.,Department of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway.,The Intervention Centre, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo N-0424, Norway
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37
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Cornelissen KK, Cornelissen PL, Hancock PJB, Tovée MJ. Fixation patterns, not clinical diagnosis, predict body size over-estimation in eating disordered women and healthy controls. Int J Eat Disord 2016; 49:507-18. [PMID: 26996142 PMCID: PMC5071724 DOI: 10.1002/eat.22505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2015] [Revised: 12/11/2015] [Accepted: 12/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE A core feature of anorexia nervosa (AN) is an over-estimation of body size. Women with AN have a different pattern of eye-movements when judging bodies, but it is unclear whether this is specific to their diagnosis or whether it is found in anyone over-estimating body size. METHOD To address this question, we compared the eye movement patterns from three participant groups while they carried out a body size estimation task: (i) 20 women with recovering/recovered anorexia (rAN) who had concerns about body shape and weight and who over-estimated body size, (ii) 20 healthy controls who had normative levels of concern about body shape and who estimated body size accurately (iii) 20 healthy controls who had normative levels of concern about body shape but who did over-estimate body size. RESULTS Comparisons between the three groups showed that: (i) accurate body size estimators tended to look more in the waist region, and this was independent of clinical diagnosis; (ii) there is a pattern of looking at images of bodies, particularly viewing the upper parts of the torso and face, which is specific to participants with rAN but which is independent of accuracy in body size estimation. DISCUSSION Since the over-estimating controls did not share the same body image concerns that women with rAN report, their over-estimation cannot be explained by attitudinal concerns about body shape and weight. These results suggest that a distributed fixation pattern is associated with over-estimation of body size and should be addressed in treatment programs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2016; 49:507-518).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Martin J. Tovée
- Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle UniversityTyne and WearUnited Kingdom
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38
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Dalmaso M, Castelli L, Scatturin P, Carli L, Todisco P, Palomba D, Galfano G. Altered social attention in anorexia nervosa during real social interaction. Sci Rep 2016; 6:23311. [PMID: 26984784 PMCID: PMC4794739 DOI: 10.1038/srep23311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The capacity to devote attentional resources in response to body-related signals provided by others is still largely unexplored in individuals with Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Here, we tested this capacity through a novel paradigm that mimics a social interaction with a real partner. Healthy individuals (Experiment 1) and individuals with AN (Experiment 2) completed a task with another person which consisted in performing, alternatively, rapid aiming movements to lateralised targets. Generally, this task leads to a form of Inhibition of Return (IOR), which consists of longer reaction times when an individual has to respond to a location previously searched by either himself (individual IOR) or by the partner (social IOR) as compared to previously unexplored locations. IOR is considered as an important attentional mechanism that promotes an effective exploration of the environment during social interaction. Here, healthy individuals displayed both individual and social IOR that were both reliable and of the same magnitude. Individuals with AN displayed a non-significant individual IOR but a reliable social IOR that was also significantly stronger than individual IOR. These results suggest the presence of a reduced sensitivity in processing body-related stimuli conveyed by oneself in individuals with AN which is reflected in action-based attentional processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.,Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy
| | - Pietro Scatturin
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy
| | - Lorenza Carli
- Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Italy
| | - Patrizia Todisco
- Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Italy
| | - Daniela Palomba
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Italy.,Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.,Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy
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Davies H, Wolz I, Leppanen J, Fernandez-Aranda F, Schmidt U, Tchanturia K. Facial expression to emotional stimuli in non-psychotic disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 64:252-71. [PMID: 26915928 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2015] [Revised: 02/01/2016] [Accepted: 02/17/2016] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Facial expression of emotion is crucial to social interaction and emotion regulation; therefore, altered facial expressivity can be a contributing factor in social isolation, difficulties with emotion regulation and a target for therapy. This article provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on automatic emotional facial expression in people with non-psychotic disorders compared to healthy comparison groups. Studies in the review used an emotionally salient visual induction method, and reported on automatic facial expression in response to congruent stimuli. A total of 39 studies show alterations in emotional facial expression across all included disorders, except anxiety disorders. In depression, decreases in facial expression are mainly evident for positive affect. In eating disorders, a meta-analysis showed decreased facial expressivity in response to positive and negative stimuli. Studies in autism partially support generally decreased facial expressivity in this group. The data included in this review point towards decreased facial emotional expressivity in individuals with different non-psychotic disorders. This is the first review to synthesise facial expression studies across clinical disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Davies
- King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, London SE5 8AF, UK
| | - I Wolz
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
| | - J Leppanen
- King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, London SE5 8AF, UK
| | - F Fernandez-Aranda
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Clinical Sciences Department, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain
| | - U Schmidt
- King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, London SE5 8AF, UK
| | - K Tchanturia
- King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, London SE5 8AF, UK; Illia University, Department of Psychology, Tbilisi, Georgia.
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40
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Distinct Reward Properties are Encoded via Corticostriatal Interactions. Sci Rep 2016; 6:20093. [PMID: 26831208 PMCID: PMC4735713 DOI: 10.1038/srep20093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2015] [Accepted: 12/07/2015] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The striatum serves as a critical brain region for reward processing. Yet, understanding the link between striatum and reward presents a challenge because rewards are composed of multiple properties. Notably, affective properties modulate emotion while informative properties help obtain future rewards. We approached this problem by emphasizing affective and informative reward properties within two independent guessing games. We found that both reward properties evoked activation within the nucleus accumbens, a subregion of the striatum. Striatal responses to informative, but not affective, reward properties predicted subsequent utilization of information for obtaining monetary reward. We hypothesized that activation of the striatum may be necessary but not sufficient to encode distinct reward properties. To investigate this possibility, we examined whether affective and informative reward properties were differentially encoded in corticostriatal interactions. Strikingly, we found that the striatum exhibited dissociable connectivity patterns with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, with increasing connectivity for affective reward properties and decreasing connectivity for informative reward properties. Our results demonstrate that affective and informative reward properties are encoded via corticostriatal interactions. These findings highlight how corticostriatal systems contribute to reward processing, potentially advancing models linking striatal activation to behavior.
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41
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Dalmaso M, Castelli L, Franchetti L, Carli L, Todisco P, Palomba D, Galfano G. Altered orienting of attention in anorexia nervosa. Psychiatry Res 2015; 229:318-25. [PMID: 26184992 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.06.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2014] [Revised: 06/05/2015] [Accepted: 06/27/2015] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The study of cognitive processes in anorexia nervosa (AN) is largely unexplored, although recent evidence suggests the presence of impairments in both social cognition and attention processing. Here we investigated AN patients' ability to orient attention in response to social and symbolic visual stimuli. AN patients and matched controls performed a task in which gaze and pointing gestures acted as social directional cues for spatial attention. Arrows were also included as symbolic cue. On each trial, a centrally-placed cue appeared oriented rightwards or leftwards. After either 200 or 700ms, a lateralized neutral target (a letter) requiring a discrimination response appeared in a location either spatially congruent or incongruent with the directional cue. Controls showed a reliable orienting irrespective of both temporal interval and cue type. AN patients showed a reliable orienting at both temporal intervals only in response to pointing gestures. Both gaze and arrow cues failed to orient attention at the short temporal interval, that is when attention is under reflexive control, whereas a reliable orienting emerged at the long temporal interval. These results provide preliminary evidence of altered reflexive orienting of attention in AN patients that does not extend to body-related cues such as pointing gestures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Lorena Franchetti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Lorenza Carli
- Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Vicenza, Italy
| | - Patrizia Todisco
- Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Vicenza, Italy
| | - Daniela Palomba
- Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy; Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
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42
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Ehrlich S, Geisler D, Ritschel F, King JA, Seidel M, Boehm I, Breier M, Clas S, Weiss J, Marxen M, Smolka MN, Roessner V, Kroemer NB. Elevated cognitive control over reward processing in recovered female patients with anorexia nervosa. J Psychiatry Neurosci 2015; 40:307-15. [PMID: 26107161 PMCID: PMC4543093 DOI: 10.1503/jpn.140249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with anorexia nervosa are thought to exert excessive self-control to inhibit primary drives. METHODS This study used functional MRI (fMRI) to interrogate interactions between the neural correlates of cognitive control and motivational processes in the brain reward system during the anticipation of monetary reward and reward-related feedback. In order to avoid confounding effects of undernutrition, we studied female participants recovered from anorexia nervosa and closely matched healthy female controls. The fMRI analysis (including node-to-node functional connectivity) followed a region of interest approach based on models of the brain reward system and cognitive control regions implicated in anorexia nervosa: the ventral striatum, medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). RESULTS We included 30 recovered patients and 30 controls in our study. There were no behavioural differences and no differences in hemodynamic responses of the ventral striatum and the mOFC in the 2 phases of the task. However, relative to controls, recovered patients showed elevated DLPFC activity during the anticipation phase, failed to deactivate this region during the feedback phase and displayed greater functional coupling between the DLPFC and mOFC. Recovered patients also had stronger associations than controls between anticipation-related DLPFC responses and instrumental responding. LIMITATIONS The results we obtained using monetary stimuli might not generalize to other forms of reward. CONCLUSION Unaltered neural responses in ventral limbic reward networks but increased recruitment of and connectivity with lateral-frontal brain circuitry in recovered patients suggests an elevated degree of selfregulatory processes in response to rewarding stimuli. An imbalance between brain systems subserving bottom-up and top-down processes may be a trait marker of the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Ehrlich
- Correspondence to: S. Ehrlich, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital C. G. Carus, Dresden, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany;
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43
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Phillipou A, Abel LA, Castle DJ, Hughes ME, Gurvich C, Nibbs RG, Rossell SL. Self perception and facial emotion perception of others in anorexia nervosa. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1181. [PMID: 26321993 PMCID: PMC4530666 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Whether individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are able to accurately perceive emotions from faces of others is unclear. Furthermore, whether individuals with AN process images of their own face differently to healthy individuals has thus far not been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate facial affect processing and the processing of one’s own face through measures of emotion identification, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and eyetracking. Methods: Twenty-four females with AN and 25 matched healthy control participants were presented with an implicit emotion processing task during fMRI and eyetracking, followed by an explicit emotion identification task. Results: The AN group were found to ‘hyperscan’ stimuli and avoided visually attending to salient features of their own face images. Results of the fMRI revealed increased activity to own face stimuli in AN in the right inferior and middle temporal gyri, and right lingual gyrus. AN participants were not found to display emotion identification deficits to the standard emotional face stimuli. Discussion: The findings are discussed in terms of increased anxiety to disorder-relevant stimuli in AN. Potential clinical implications are discussed in relation to the use of eyetracking techniques to improve the perception of self in AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Phillipou
- Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne Melbourne, VIC, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne Melbourne, VIC, Australia ; Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne VIC, Australia
| | - Larry A Abel
- Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - David J Castle
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne Melbourne, VIC, Australia ; Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne VIC, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne VIC, Australia
| | - Matthew E Hughes
- Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne VIC, Australia
| | - Caroline Gurvich
- Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Melbourne VIC, Australia
| | - Richard G Nibbs
- Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne VIC, Australia
| | - Susan L Rossell
- Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne VIC, Australia ; Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne VIC, Australia ; Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Melbourne VIC, Australia
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44
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Watson KK, Miller S, Hannah E, Kovac M, Damiano CR, Sabatino-DiCrisco A, Turner-Brown L, Sasson NJ, Platt ML, Dichter GS. Increased reward value of non-social stimuli in children and adolescents with autism. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1026. [PMID: 26257684 PMCID: PMC4510834 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2015] [Accepted: 07/06/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
An econometric choice task was used to estimate the implicit reward value of social and non-social stimuli related to restricted interests in children and adolescents with (n = 12) and without (n = 22) autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mixed effects logistic regression analyses revealed that groups differed in valuation of images related to restricted interests: control children were indifferent to cash payouts to view these images, but children with ASD were willing to receive less cash payout to view these images. Groups did not differ in valuation of social images or non-social images not related to restricted interests. Results highlight that motivational accounts of ASD should also consider the reward value of non-social stimuli related to restricted interests in ASD (Dichter and Adolphs, 2012).
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Affiliation(s)
- Karli K Watson
- Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Colorado at Boulder , Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Stephanie Miller
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities , Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Eleanor Hannah
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities , Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Megan Kovac
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities , Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Cara R Damiano
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities , Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Lauren Turner-Brown
- TEACCH Autism Program, UNC School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Carrboro, NC, USA
| | - Noah J Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas , Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Michael L Platt
- Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Gabriel S Dichter
- Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities , Chapel Hill, NC, USA ; Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine , Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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45
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Via E, Soriano-Mas C, Sánchez I, Forcano L, Harrison BJ, Davey CG, Pujol J, Martínez-Zalacaín I, Menchón JM, Fernández-Aranda F, Cardoner N. Abnormal Social Reward Responses in Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0133539. [PMID: 26197051 PMCID: PMC4510264 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) display impaired social interactions, implicated in the development and prognosis of the disorder. Importantly, social behavior is modulated by reward-based processes, and dysfunctional at-brain-level reward responses have been involved in AN neurobiological models. However, no prior evidence exists of whether these neural alterations would be equally present in social contexts. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional social-judgment functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of 20 restrictive-subtype AN patients and 20 matched healthy controls. Brain activity during acceptance and rejection was investigated and correlated with severity measures (Eating Disorder Inventory -EDI-2) and with personality traits of interest known to modulate social behavior (The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire). Patients showed hypoactivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during social acceptance and hyperactivation of visual areas during social rejection. Ventral striatum activation during rejection was positively correlated in patients with clinical severity scores. During acceptance, activation of the frontal opercula-anterior insula and dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was differentially associated with reward sensitivity between groups. These results suggest an abnormal motivational drive for social stimuli, and involve overlapping social cognition and reward systems leading to a disruption of adaptive responses in the processing of social reward. The specific association of reward-related regions with clinical and psychometric measures suggests the putative involvement of reward structures in the maintenance of pathological behaviors in AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Via
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Carles Soriano-Mas
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology and Methodology of Health Sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
| | - Isabel Sánchez
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Laura Forcano
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- IMIM Research Institute at the Hospital de Mar, clinical research group in human pharmacology and neuroscience, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ben J. Harrison
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Christopher G. Davey
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Jesús Pujol
- MRI Research Unit, Hospital del Mar, CIBERSAM G21, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
| | - José M. Menchón
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Fernando Fernández-Aranda
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Narcís Cardoner
- Bellvitge University Hospital - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain
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46
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Winecoff AA, Ngo L, Moskovich A, Merwin R, Zucker N. The functional significance of shyness in anorexia nervosa. EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW 2015; 23:327-32. [PMID: 25959923 DOI: 10.1002/erv.2363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2014] [Revised: 03/30/2015] [Accepted: 04/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The defining features of anorexia nervosa (AN) include disordered eating and disturbance in the experience of their bodies; however, many women with AN also demonstrate higher harm avoidance (HA), lower novelty seeking, and challenges with interpersonal functioning. The current study explored whether HA and novelty seeking could explain variation in disordered eating and social functioning in healthy control women ( n = 18), weight-restored women with a history of AN (n = 17), and women currently-ill with AN (AN; n = 17). Our results indicated that clinical participants (AN + weight-restored women) reported poorer social skills than healthy control participants. Moreover, the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and social skill deficits was mediated by HA. Follow-up analyses indicated that only the 'shyness with strangers' factor of HA independently mediated this relationship. Collectively, our results suggest a better understanding of shyness in many individuals with eating disorders could inform models of interpersonal functioning in AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy A Winecoff
- Department of Psychology, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY, USA
| | - Lawrence Ngo
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ashley Moskovich
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Rhonda Merwin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Nancy Zucker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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Ritschel F, King JA, Geisler D, Flohr L, Neidel F, Boehm I, Seidel M, Zwipp J, Ripke S, Smolka MN, Roessner V, Ehrlich S. Temporal delay discounting in acutely ill and weight-recovered patients with anorexia nervosa. Psychol Med 2015; 45:1229-1239. [PMID: 25579471 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291714002311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are characterized by a very low body weight but readily give up immediate rewards (food) for long-term goals (slim figure), which might indicate an unusual level of self-control. This everyday clinical observation may be quantifiable in the framework of the anticipation-discounting dilemma. METHOD Using a cross-sectional design, this study compared the capacity to delay reward in 34 patients suffering from acute AN (acAN), 33 weight-recovered AN patients (recAN) and 54 healthy controls. We also used a longitudinal study to reassess 21 acAN patients after short-term weight restoration. A validated intertemporal choice task and a hyperbolic model were used to estimate temporal discounting rates. RESULTS Confirming the validity of the task used, decreased delay discounting was associated with age and low self-reported impulsivity. However, no group differences in key measures of temporal discounting of monetary rewards were found. CONCLUSIONS Increased cognitive control, which has been suggested as a key characteristic of AN, does not seem to extend the capacity to wait for delayed monetary rewards. Differences between our study and the only previous study reporting decreased delay discounting in adult AN patients may be explained by the different age range and chronicity of acute patients, but the fact that weight recovery was not associated with changes in discount rates suggests that discounting behavior is not a trait marker in AN. Future studies using paradigms with disorder-specific stimuli may help to clarify the role of delay discounting in AN.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Ritschel
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - J A King
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - D Geisler
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - L Flohr
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - F Neidel
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - I Boehm
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - M Seidel
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - J Zwipp
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - S Ripke
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center,Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - M N Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center,Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - V Roessner
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
| | - S Ehrlich
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universität Dresden,Dresden,Germany
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48
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Young JS, Smith DV, Coutlee CG, Huettel SA. Synchrony between sensory and cognitive networks is associated with subclinical variation in autistic traits. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:146. [PMID: 25852527 PMCID: PMC4369640 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 03/02/2015] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autistic spectrum disorders exhibit distinct personality traits linked to attentional, social, and affective functions, and those traits are expressed with varying levels of severity in the neurotypical and subclinical population. Variation in autistic traits has been linked to reduced functional and structural connectivity (i.e., underconnectivity, or reduced synchrony) with neural networks modulated by attentional, social, and affective functions. Yet, it remains unclear whether reduced synchrony between these neural networks contributes to autistic traits. To investigate this issue, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record brain activation while neurotypical participants who varied in their subclinical scores on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) viewed alternating blocks of social and nonsocial stimuli (i.e., images of faces and of landscape scenes). We used independent component analysis (ICA) combined with a spatiotemporal regression to quantify synchrony between neural networks. Our results indicated that decreased synchrony between the executive control network (ECN) and a face-scene network (FSN) predicted higher scores on the AQ. This relationship was not explained by individual differences in head motion, preferences for faces, or personality variables related to social cognition. Our findings build on clinical reports by demonstrating that reduced synchrony between distinct neural networks contributes to a range of subclinical autistic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S. Young
- Pritzker School of Medicine, University of ChicagoChicago, IL, USA
| | - David V. Smith
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers UniversityNewark, NJ, USA
| | - Christopher G. Coutlee
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke UniversityDurham, NC, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke UniversityDurham, NC, USA
| | - Scott A. Huettel
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke UniversityDurham, NC, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke UniversityDurham, NC, USA
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49
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Calderoni S, Fantozzi P, Balboni G, Pagni V, Franzoni E, Apicella F, Narzisi A, Maestro S, Muratori F. The impact of internalizing symptoms on autistic traits in adolescents with restrictive anorexia nervosa. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2015; 11:75-85. [PMID: 25609969 PMCID: PMC4294691 DOI: 10.2147/ndt.s73235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although previous studies indicated a positive association between restrictive anorexia-nervosa (AN-R) and autistic traits, the potential interference of psychiatric internalizing comorbidity on this association is not yet fully investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS The aim of this study was to explore autistic traits and internalizing psychopathology in adolescents (age range: 11.7-17.2 years) with AN-R. Twenty-five patients referred to two tertiary-care hospitals were compared to a large control group (N=170) with no differences in age and sex. AN-R patients and controls filled out instruments assessing autistic traits (autism spectrum quotient [AQ]), psychopathology (youth self-report [YSR] 11-18), and eating patterns (eating attitude test [EAT]). In order to disentangle the possible mediating role of internalizing symptoms on autistic traits, two separate control groups (called True and False healthy control, both composed of 25 eating-problem-free participants) were derived from the whole control group on the basis of the presence or absence of internalizing problems in the YSR. RESULTS AN-R patients scored significantly higher on AQ compared to the whole control group and to controls without internalizing problems (True HC), but these differences disappeared when only controls with internalizing problems (False HC) were considered. CONCLUSION Autistic traits in AN-R individuals may have been overestimated and may partly be due to comorbid internalizing symptoms in investigated patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Calderoni
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Pamela Fantozzi
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Giulia Balboni
- Department of Surgery, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area Pathology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Veronica Pagni
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Emilio Franzoni
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Women, Children and Adolescents Health Department, University Hospital S Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna, Italy
| | - Fabio Apicella
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Antonio Narzisi
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Sandra Maestro
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Filippo Muratori
- IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy ; Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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50
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Abstract
One’s experiences of hunger, food, eating, and the body are not only subjective but intersubjective: They involve one’s relation to others. On the basis of this observation, what is proposed here is a conception of anorexia as bodily intersubjective: Anorexia would involve, via the manipulation of food and eating behavior, the transformation of the subject’s body, as a way of impacting her relations to others. The anorexic subject would instrumentalize her eating behavior and bodily shape to address others, thereby putting them in a position to respond to her meaningfully, by manifesting their sensitivity to her desire. Importantly, in this view, anorexia is not positioned on the intersubjective scene by opposition to the bodily and alimentary scene; rather, what is proposed is that anorexic sufferance is intersubjective insofar as it is bodily. After some clinical observations describing how anorexia is bodily intersubjective in a concrete way, an overview allows for consideration of whether this conception of anorexia conflicts with or is supported by the main approaches that are currently influential in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Frédéric Briend
- Ecole Normale Supérieure, Archives Husserl, Paris, France
- Clinique des Maladies Mentales et de l’Encéphale, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
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