| dc.description.abstract | Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence of negative emotions on decision making in women with binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Furthermore, the influence of sensitivity to reward was examined.
Method: Sixty one female patients and twenty eight healthy control women participated in the study. The experiment consisted of the SPSRQsr, a short film fragment (either sad or neutral) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) which measured decision making.
Results: The findings indicated that the patients performed poorly on the IGT, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Although the emotion induction was successful, the performance on the IGT was not worse after a negative emotion. Sensitivity to reward did seem to play a role; a positive association was found between sensitivity to reward and severity of bulimic symptoms and urgency. Also, sensitivity to reward had an influence on IGT performance, although the relationship is complex and need further exploration.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that there were no differences between patients and control participants in their decision making after a negative emotion. Although no direct effect was found from negative emotion on decision making, sensitivity to reward seems to influence performance on the IGT, but the relationship is complex and needs further exploration. Future research should
focus on unraveling the role of sensitivity to reward, and compare the different types of eating pathology. | |
