Anticipatory and Consummatory Responses Across Reward Domains in Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa

Objective

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by a tendency to limit intake of food, with specific restriction of foods that are generally considered highly palatable. This observation raises questions about whether reward processing is disturbed in AN. This study examined whether adolescents with AN differ from healthy control peers (HC) in anticipatory and consummatory reward processing.

Method

Adolescents with AN (n = 71) and HC (n = 41) completed the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS). The TEPS Anticipatory Pleasure scale was divided into two further subscales (Food and Non-food). Anticipatory (Food and Non-food) and Consummatory Pleasure (Non-food) scores were compared between adolescents with AN and HC using independent t-tests.

Results

TEPS scores were significantly lower among adolescents with AN than HC in Anticipatory Pleasure Food (t(110) = 7.80, p < 0.001) and Non-food (t(110) = 4.36, p < 0.001), and Consummatory Pleasure (t(110) = 2.60, p = 0.01) subscales. When controlling for BDI score, there was no significant group difference in TEPS Consummatory Pleasure scores (t(108) = 0.88, p = 0.38). Among adolescents with AN, Food Anticipatory Pleasure was significantly negatively correlated with all EDE-Q subscales and global score (r(68) = −0.38, p = 0.002) and positively correlated with food intake at a laboratory buffet meal (r(61) = 0.53, p < 0.001).

Discussion

Measures of both anticipatory and consummatory reward were reduced among adolescents with AN with a short duration of illness. In this study, eating disorder symptoms were related to diminished reward responses in anticipation of food. Dampened anticipatory reward response may comprise a mechanism of illness in AN that should be subject to further study.