Anorexic Brain Set on Planning, Not Pleasure

Women who recover from anorexia show notably marked differences in brain patterns one year after recovery, states a report in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry.

Walter H. Kaye, M.D., professor of psychiatry at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine compared 13 women who had recovered from anorexia and maintained a healthy weight for at least one year to 13 healthy women. Functional magnetic resolution imaging (fMRI) monitored brain activity as participants from both groups played a game in which they had to guess whether a hidden number was higher or lower than five. Correct guesses earned a $2 reward and incorrect guesses were penalized by $1.

Results showed that anorexics showed similar activity in the anterior ventral striatum, a region of the brain associated with emotional reaction, whether they won or lost. Meanwhile, marked increases in activity were noted in the caudate region of the brain, which is associated with planning and detail.

The findings help to explain why many anorexics exhibit anxiety and meticulousness as early as childhood and suggests that they may find it easier to deny themselves comforts such as food due to problems with reward processing. According to the abstract, this combination means they may develop a "'strategic' (as opposed to hedonic) means of responding to reward stimuli" which contributes to the development of the disorder.

ABSTRACT: Altered Reward Processing in Women Recovered From Anorexia Nervosa