Pavlovian influence on behaviours in eating disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The influence of Pavlovian conditioning on behaviour and decision-making in Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder
IRAS ID
209720
Contact name
Samantha Rennalls
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
There is growing interest in the role of reward-based learning in psychiatric illness. Differences in the ways that people learn from rewards and punishments have been identified as being notably relevant in disorders such as addiction and anxiety. More recently, this has expanded into the field of eating disorders, where a core aspect of the psychopathology is centred around a natural primary reward, specifically food.
In binge eating disorder (BED), which can be considered as lying at an extreme end of an eating disorder (ED) ‘spectrum’, food appears to have excessive rewarding value, leading to compulsive over-eating. However, in anorexia nervosa (AN), which falls at the opposite extremity of the ED spectrum, food is seen as excessively punishing, leading to restriction of food intake. Furthermore, bulimia nervosa (BN), which has elements of both BED and AN, may fall in the centre of the spectrum, with both rewarding and punishing aspects of food causing conflicting and harmful binge-purge behaviours.
This theoretical approach to explaining the spectrum observed in EDs is intuitive in its description. However, there has been limited scientific investigation into the role of reward and punishment learning processes in EDs. The current study will investigate the mechanisms underlying reward and punishment learning, and its influence on behaviour, in people with AN, BN and BED using simple computer-based tasks. This will help to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of EDs, and difficulties in treating them. Furthermore, this study will provide insight into behavioural and cognitive systems that may be effective targets for treatment. It will also provide a means of informing the development of future studies exploring the neurobiological underpinnings of reward and punishment-based learning in eating disorders.REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1635
Date of REC Opinion
12 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion