Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T14:47:01.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anorexia, bulimia, and obesity: Shared decision making deficits on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2010

AMY BROGAN ,
DAVID HEVEY  and
RICCARDO PIGNATTI
AMY BROGAN*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
DAVID HEVEY
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
RICCARDO PIGNATTI
Affiliation:
Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Neuropsychology Unit, Piancavallo (VB), Italy
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Amy Brogan, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland. E-mail: broganam@tcd.ie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The pathological eating behaviors in Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and obesity are characterized by a preference for high immediate reward, despite higher future losses in terms of both physical and psychological outcomes. The present study compared the decision making profile of females with a diagnosis of AN (n = 22), BN (n = 17), obesity (n = 18), and a healthy weight comparison group (n = 20) using a standardized neuropsychological test, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The three clinical groups (AN, BN, obesity) were significantly impaired on the IGT compared with the comparison group on both overall task performance and task learning; however, the three clinical groups were not significantly different from each other. Sixty-one percent to 77% of the clinical groups reached the threshold for impairment on the IGT, compared with 15% of the comparison group. The potential basis for this shared decision making profile is discussed. (JINS, 2010, 16, 711–715.)

Keywords

NeuropsychologyPrefrontal cortexCognitionChoice behaviorRewardEating disorders
Type
Brief Communications
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , July 2010 , pp. 711 - 715
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., & Damasio, H. (2002). Decision-making and addiction (I): Impaired activation of somatic states in substance dependent individuals when pondering decisions with negative future consequences. Neuropsychologia, 40, 1675–1689.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S.W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Dolan, S., Denburg, N., Hindes, A., Anderson, S.W., & Nathan, P.E. (2001). Decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in alcohol and stimulant abusers. Neuropsychologia, 39, 376–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A.R. (1996). Failure to respond autonomically to anticipated future outcomes following damage to prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 6, 215–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boeka, A.G., & Lokkenz, K.L. (2006). The Iowa gambling task as a measure of decision making in women with bulimia nervosa. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 741–745.Google Scholar
Bosanac, P., Kurlender, S., Stojanovska, L., Hallam, K., Norman, T., McGrath, C., et al. . (2007). Neuropsychological study of underweight and “weight-recovered” anorexia nervosa compared with bulimia nervosa and normal controls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 613–621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brand, M., Franke-Sievert, C., Jacoby, G.E., Markowitsch, H.J., & Tuschen-Caffier, B. (2007). Neuropsychological correlates of decision making in patients with bulimia nervosa. Neuropsychology, 21, 742–750.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cavedini, P., Bassi, T., Ubbiali, A., Casolari, A., Giordani, S., Zorzi, C., et al. . (2004). Neuropsychological investigation of decision-making in anorexia nervosa. Psychiatry Research, 127, 259–266.Google Scholar
Cavedini, P., Zorzi, C., Bassi, T., Gorini, A., Baraldi, C., Ubbiali, A., et al. . (2006). Decision-making functioning as a predictor of treatment outcome in anorexia nervosa. Psychiatry Research, 145, 179–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damasio, A.R. (1994). Descartes error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. London: Picador.Google Scholar
Davis, C., Levitan, R., Muglia, P., Bewell, C., & Kennedy, J. (2004). Decision-making deficits and overeating: A risk model for obesity. Obesity Research, 12, 929–935.Google Scholar
Davis, C., Patte, K., Curtis, C., & Reid, C. (2010). Immediate pleasures and future consequences. A neuropsychological study of binge eating and obesity. Appetite, 54, 208–213.Google Scholar
Dunn, B.D., Dalgleish, T., & Lawrence, A.D. (2006). The somatic marker hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 239–271.Google Scholar
Fellows, L.K., & Farah, M.J. (2005). Different underlying impairments in decision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans. Cerebral Cortex, 15, 58–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hiroto, D.S., & Seligman, M.E. (1975). Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 311–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liao, P.-C., Uher, R., Lawrence, N., Treasure, J., Schmidt, U., Campbell, I.C., et al. . (2009). An examination of decision making in bulimia nervosa. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 31, 455–461.Google Scholar
Pignatti, R., Bertella, L., Albani, G., Mauro, A., Molinari, E., & Semenza, C. (2006). Decision-making in obesity: A study using the Gambling Task. Eating and Weight Disorders, 11, 126–132.Google Scholar
Tchanturia, K., Liao, P.-C., Uher, R., Lawrence, N., Treasure, J., & Campbell, I.C. (2007). An investigation of decision making in anorexia nervosa using the Iowa Gambling Task and skin conductance measurements. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 635–641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed