AUTHOR=Watson Karli K., Werling Donna M., Zucker Nancy , Platt Michael 

TITLE=Altered Social Reward and Attention in Anorexia Nervosa

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 1 - 2010

YEAR=2010

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00036

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00036

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Dysfunctional social reward and social orienting attend a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia, social anxiety, and psychopathy. Here we show that similar social reward and attention dysfunction attend anorexia nervosa, a disorder defined by avoidance of food and extreme weight loss. We measured the implicit reward value of social stimuli for female participants with (n=11) and without  (n=11) anorexia nervosa using an econometric choice task and also tracked gaze patterns during free viewing of images of female faces and bodies. As predicted, the reward value of viewing bodies varied inversely with observed body weight for women with anorexia but not neurotypical women, in contrast with their explicit ratings of attractiveness. Surprisingly, women with anorexia nervosa, unlike neurotypical women, did not find female faces rewarding and avoided looking at both the face and eyes—independent of observed body weight. These findings demonstrate comorbid dysfunction in the neural circuits mediating gustatory and social reward in anorexia nervosa.