Increased Insula and Amygdala Activity During Selective Attention for Negatively Valenced Body Parts in Binge Eating Disorder

Previous studies indicate that participants with eating disorders show an attentional bias for the negatively valenced body parts of their own body. However, the neural basis underlying these processes has not been investigated. We conducted a preregistered combined functional MRI (fMRI)/eye tracking study and presented 35 women with binge eating disorder (BED) and 24 weight-matched control subjects (CG) with body part images of their own body and a weight-matched unknown body. After the fMRI examination, participants rated the attractiveness of the presented body parts. As expected, women with BED responded with significantly higher insula and amygdala activity when viewing the negatively valenced body parts of their own body (compared to all other combinations). However, individuals with BED did not deviate from the CG in the processing of these stimuli in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the extrastriate body area or the fusiform body area. Our results indicate that the negative valued body parts carry a particularly strong emotional valence in individuals with BED. These results further emphasize the relevance of processing bias for negatively valenced body parts in the pathology of BED.General Scientific SummaryIndividuals with eating disorders preferentially direct their attention toward parts of the self-body they perceive as unattractive. In binge eating disorder this attentional bias is associated with an overactivation of the emotion-processing brain areas.

Automated summary

Previous studies have shown that individuals with eating disorders have a bias towards negatively valenced body parts of their own body. However, the neural basis of these processes has not been investigated. In this combined fMRI/eye tracking study, women with binge eating disorder (BED) showed higher activity in the insula and amygdala when viewing negatively valenced body parts of their own body compared to other combinations. These results highlight the strong emotional valence associated with negative body parts in individuals with BED.