Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:20:20.653Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Iowa gambling task as a measure of decision making in women with bulimia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

ABBE GAYLE BOEKA  and
KRISTINE LEE LOKKEN
ABBE GAYLE BOEKA
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
KRISTINE LEE LOKKEN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Persistent chaotic feeding behavior (i.e., bingeing and purging), despite consequent adverse health and psychosocial consequences, is central to the definition and diagnosis of bulimia nervosa (BN). Repeatedly choosing immediate short-term gratification when long-term consequences are deleterious may reflect deficits in decision-making ability. However, to date, there has been no systematic examination of decision-making ability in individuals diagnosed with BN. In the present study, 20 undergraduate women with minimal bulimic symptoms (Control Group) and 20 with a diagnosis of BN (BN Group) were administered the Iowa Gambling Task (GT). Results indicated that the BN Group performed significantly worse on the GT in comparison to the Control Group and GT performance was negatively correlated with bulimic symptomatology. The presence of BN symptoms also predicted GT performance above and beyond demographic variables and depressive symptoms. These findings provide evidence for the presence of decision-making deficits in individuals with BN (JINS, 2006, 12, 741–745.)

Keywords

Eating disordersBulimia nervosaCognitionNeuropsychologyAssessmentChoice behavior
Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 12 , Issue 5 , September 2006 , pp. 741 - 745
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S.W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A.R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275, 1293–1295.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Dolan, S., Denburg, A., & Hindes, A. (2002). Decision-making and addiction (part II): Myopia for the future of hypersensitivity to reward? Neuropsychologia, 40, 1690–1705.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Dolan, S., Denburg, N., Hindes, A., Anderson, S.W., & Nathan, P.E. (2001). Decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in alcohol and stimulant abusers. Neuropsychologia, 39, 376–389.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Tranel, D., & Damasio, H. (2000). Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain, 123, 2189–2202.Google Scholar
Beck, A., Steer, R., & Brown, G. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory-II Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.
Cavedini, P., Riboldi, G., Keller, R., D'Annucci, A., & Bellodi, L. (2002). Frontal lobe dysfunction in pathological gambling patients. Biological Psychiatry, 51, 334–341.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C.G. & Beglin, S.J. (1994). Assessment of eating disorders: Interview or self-report questionnaire? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 16, 363–370.Google Scholar
Grant, S., Contoreggi, C., & London, E.D. (2000). Drug abusers show impaired performance in a laboratory test of decision making. Neuropsychologia, 38, 1180–1187.Google Scholar
Grigson, P.S. (2002). Like drugs for chocolate: Separate rewards modulated by common mechanisms. Physiological Behavior, 76, 389–395.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.G., Colledge, E., Leonard, A., & Blair, R.J. (2002). Risky decisions and response reversal: Is there evidence of orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in psychopathic individuals? Neuropsychologia, 40, 2013–2022.Google Scholar
Monterosso, J., Ehrman, R., Napier, K.L., O'Brien, C.P., & Childress, A.R. (2001). Three decision-making tasks in cocaine-dependent patients: Do they measure the same construct? Addiction, 96, 1825–1837.Google Scholar
National Research Council, Committee on Diet and Health. (1989). Diet and health: Implications for reducing chronic disease risk. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
O'Brien, K.M. & Vincent, N.K. (2003). Psychiatric comorbidity in anorexia and bulimia nervosa: Nature, prevalence, and causal relationships. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 57–74.Google Scholar
Russell, G. (1979). Bulimia nervosa: An ominous variant of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 429–448.Google Scholar
Schmitt, W.A., Brinkley, C.A., & Newman, J.P. (1999). Testing Damasio's somatic marker hypothesis with psychopathic individuals: Risk takers or risk averse? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 538–543.Google Scholar
Thelen, M.H., Farmer, J., Wonderlich, S., & Smith, M. (1991). A revision of the bulimia test: The BULIT-R. Psychological Assessment, 3, 119–124.Google Scholar
Vitousek, K. & Manke, F. (1994). Personality variables and disorders in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 137–147.Google Scholar
Wechsler Test of Adult Reading Manual (2001). San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, a Harcourt Assessment Company.