Threat-Detection and Attentional Bias to Threat in Women Recovered from Anorexia Nervosa: Neural Alterations in Extrastriate and Medial Prefrontal Cortices

Abstract

Objective: Behavioral studies have shown that anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with attentional bias to general threat cues. The neurobiological underpinnings of attentional bias to threat in AN are unknown. This study investigated the neural responses associated with threat-detection and attentional bias to threat in AN.

Methods: We measured neural responses to a dot-probe task, involving pairs of angry and neutral face stimuli, in 22 adult women recovered from AN and 21 comparison women.

Results: Recovered AN women did not exhibit a behavioral attentional bias to threat. In response to angry faces, recovered women showed significant hypoactivation in the extrastriate cortex. During attentional bias to angry faces, recovered women showed significant hyperactivation in the medial prefrontal cortex. This was because of significant deactivation in comparison women, which was absent in recovered AN women.

Conclusions: Women recovered from AN are characterized by altered neural responses to threat cues. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; attentional bias; dot-probe; functional magnetic resonance imaging; medial prefrontal cortex.