Neural correlates of altered feedback learning in women recovered from anorexia nervosa

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with exaggerated self-control and altered reward-based decision making, but the underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. Consistent with the notion of excessive cognitive control, we recently found increased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation in acutely ill patients (acAN) on lose-shift trials in a probabilistic reversal learning (PRL) task. However, undernutrition may modulate brain function. In attempt to disentangle trait from state factors, the current fMRI study investigated cognitive control in recovered patients (recAN). Thirty-one recAN and 31 healthy controls (HC) completed a PRL task during fMRI. Based on previous findings, we focused on hemodynamic responses during lose-shift behaviour and conducted supplementary functional connectivity analysis. RecAN showed elevated lose-shift behaviour relative to HC. On the neural level, recAN showed normal dACC responses, but increased activation in fronto-parietal control regions. A trend for increased coupling between frontal and parietal regions of interest was also evident in recAN. The current findings in recAN differ from those in our previous study in acAN. While aberrant dACC response to negative feedback may be a correlate of the underweight state in acAN, impaired behavioural adaptation and elevated activation of cognitive control regions in recAN is suggestive of altered neural efficiency.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5421-5431
Number of pages11
JournalScientific Reports
Volume7
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

researchoutputwizard legacy.publication#78956
researchoutputwizard legacy.publication#79439
Scopus 85024364519
PubMed 28710363
ORCID /0000-0002-2864-5578/work/159605435
ORCID /0000-0003-2132-4445/work/159605881
ORCID /0000-0002-5112-405X/work/159607708
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/159607745

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

ASJC Scopus subject areas