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Bernardoni F, King JA, Hellerhoff I, Schoemann M, Seidel M, Geisler D, Boehm I, Pauligk S, Doose A, Steding J, Gramatke K, Roessner V, Scherbaum S, Ehrlich S. Mouse-cursor trajectories reveal reduced contextual influence on decision conflict during delay discounting in anorexia nervosa. Int J Eat Disord 2023; 56:1898-1908. [PMID: 37415568 DOI: 10.1002/eat.24019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The capacity of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) to forgo immediate food rewards in their long-term pursuit of thinness is thought to reflect elevated self-control and/or abnormal reward sensitivity. Prior research attempted to capture an increased tendency to delay gratification in AN using delay-discounting tasks that assess how rapidly the subjective value of rewards decreases as a function of time until receipt. However, significant effects were mostly subtle or absent. Here, we tested whether the process leading to such decisions might be altered in AN. METHOD We recorded mouse-cursor movement trajectories leading to the final choice in a computerized delay-discounting task (238 trials) in 55 acutely underweight females with AN and pairwise age-matched female healthy controls (HC). We tested for group differences in deviations from a direct choice path, a measure of conflict strength in decision making, and whether group moderated the effect of several predictors of conflict strength (e.g., choice difficulty, consistency). We also explored reaction times and changes in trajectory directions (X-flips). RESULTS No group differences in delay-discounting parameters or movement trajectories were detected. However, the effect of the aforementioned predictors on deviations (and to a lesser extent reaction times) was reduced in AN. DISCUSSION These findings suggest that while delay discounting and conflict strength in decision making are generally unaltered in AN, conflict strength was more stable across different decisions in the disorder. This might enable individuals with AN to pursue (maladaptive) long-term body-weight goals, because particularly conflicting choices may not be experienced as such. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE The deviations from a direct path of mouse-cursor movements during a computerized delay-discounting task varied less in people with anorexia nervosa. Assuming such deviations measure decision conflict, we speculate that this increased stability might help people with anorexia nervosa achieve their long-term weight goals, as for them the struggle with the decision to eat high-calorie meals when hungry will be milder, so they would be more likely to skip them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Bernardoni
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Joseph A King
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Inger Hellerhoff
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Martin Schoemann
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural sciences, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Maria Seidel
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Daniel Geisler
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Ilka Boehm
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sophie Pauligk
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Arne Doose
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Julius Steding
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Katrin Gramatke
- Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Veit Roessner
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital C. G. Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Stefan Scherbaum
- Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Stefan Ehrlich
- Translational Developmental Neuroscience Section, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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