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Contribution title Anticipatory and Consummatory Responses to Touch and Food Rewards in Anorexia Nervosa
Contribution code D2.084
Authors
  1. Fiona Eslami Tehrani University of Vienna Presenter
  2. Michael Zeiler Medical University of Vienna
  3. Emilio Chiappini Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at Dortmund University
  4. Yanick Lahaye University of Vienna
  5. Philipp Lazen Medical University of Vienna
  6. Ema Lazić Medical University of Vienna
  7. Gudrun Wagner Medical University of Vienna
  8. Wolfgang Bogner Medical University of Vienna
  9. Andreas Karwautz Medical University of Vienna, Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  10. Giorgia Silani University of Vienna
Form of presentation Poster
Topic
  • T18 - Eating disorders
Abstract Aims | Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder with high mortality, with complex but so far unknown origin and suboptimal treatment course and prognosis. Etiological models conceptualize AN as a disorder in which neurochemical and neurophysiological circuits related to reward processing are highly dysregulated. However, inconsistencies about the direction of such dysregulations (i.e. hypo- or hyper-sensitivity to rewards) highlight the complexity of the phenomenon and the difficulty to draw a mechanistic model of the disease. A possible explanation of such discrepancies can be attributed to different study designs and an operationalization of reward that is highly heterogeneous. Here, by using a newly developed paradigm with high translational value inspired by animal research, in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we aim to investigate the neural and behavioral underpinning of reward processing (social, and non-social) in AN, with the ultimate goal to develop a mechanistic model which will allow clinicians to better assess which individual aspects promote recovery and treatment success.
Methods | We tested AN patients in different stages of the illness (N=90), and matched controls (N=60) using a reward paradigm which included trial-by-trial anticipation and consumption of matched primary social (affiliative touch) and non-social (real food) stimuli. Concurrently, their neural and facial muscular (i.e. corrugator supercilii muscle) activity was acquired by simultaneous fMRI and electromyography (EMG). To examine brain activity in both components of reward, separate analyses are conducted for the 'wanting' phase (anticipation) and the 'liking' phase (consumption).
Results and Conclusions | This multi-method approach lays the groundwork to further understand reward processing and inquire the best treatments for AN in creating a more accurate model by integrating social, behavioral and neurobiological factors.