• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Strengthened Default Mode Network Activation During Delay Discounting in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa After Partial Weight Restoration: A Longitudinal fMRI Study
  • Contributor: Doose, Arne; King, Joseph A.; Bernardoni, Fabio; Geisler, Daniel; Hellerhoff, Inger; Weinert, Tomas; Roessner, Veit; Smolka, Michael N.; Ehrlich, Stefan
  • Published: MDPI AG, 2020
  • Published in: Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9 (2020) 4, Seite 900
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.3390/jcm9040900
  • ISSN: 2077-0383
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: The capacity of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) to resist food-based rewards is often assumed to reflect excessive self-control. Previous cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies utilizing the delay discounting (DD) paradigm, an index of impulsivity and self-control, suggested altered neural efficiency of decision-making in acutely underweight patients (acAN) and a relative normalization in long-term, weight-recovered individuals with a history of AN (recAN). The current longitudinal study tested for changes in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation during DD associated with intensive weight restoration treatment. A predominately adolescent cohort of 22 female acAN patients (mean age—15.5 years) performed an established DD paradigm during fMRI at the beginning of hospitalization and again after partial weight restoration (≥12% body mass index (BMI) increase). Analyses investigated longitudinal changes in both reward valuation and executive decision-making processes. Additional exploratory analyses included comparisons with data acquired in aged-matched healthy controls (HC) as well as probes of functional connectivity between empirically identified nodes of the “task-positive” frontoparietal control network (FPN) and “task-negative” default-mode network (DMN). While treatment was not associated with changes in behavioral DD parameters or activation, specific to reward processing, deactivation of the DMN during decision-making was significantly less pronounced following partial weight restoration. Strengthened DMN activation during DD might reflect a relative relaxation of cognitive overcontrol or improved self-referential, decision-making. Together, our findings present further evidence that aberrant decision-making in AN might be remediable by treatment and, therefore, might constitute an acute effect rather than a core trait variable of the disorder.
  • Access State: Open Access