Objective: Research suggests abnormalities in reward-based processes in anorexia nervosa (AN). However, few studies have explored if such alterations might be associated with different temporal activation patterns. This study aims to characterize alterations in time-dependent processes in the ventral striatum (VS) during social feedback in AN using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Method: Twenty women with restrictive-subtype AN and 20 age-matched healthy controls (HC) underwent a social judgment experimental fMRI task. Temporal VS hemodynamic responses were extracted in SPM for each participant and each social condition (acceptance/rejection).
Results: Compared with age-matched HC, patients with AN showed a significant time by group interaction of peak VS response throughout the task, with a progressive blunting of peak activation responses, accompanied by a progressive increase in baseline activity levels over time.
Discussion: The results suggest an attenuated response pattern to repetitive social rejection in the VS in patients with AN, together with a difficulty in returning to baseline. The information obtained from this study will guide future, design-specific studies to further explore alterations temporal dynamics.
Keywords: anorexia nervosa; functional magnetic resonance imaging; reward system; social reward; ventral striatum.
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