Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states
Abstract Background Feeding and eating disorders are severe mental disorders that gravely affect patients’ lives. In particular, patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) appear to have poor social cognition. Many studies have shown the relationship between poor social cognition an...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2024-02-01
|
| Series: | BioPsychoSocial Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-023-00297-y |
| _version_ | 1797274199835803648 |
|---|---|
| author | Rio Kamashita Rikukage Setsu Noriko Numata Yasuko Koga Michiko Nakazato Koji Matsumoto Hiroki Ando Yoshitada Masuda Sertap Maral Eiji Shimizu Yoshiyuki Hirano |
| author_facet | Rio Kamashita Rikukage Setsu Noriko Numata Yasuko Koga Michiko Nakazato Koji Matsumoto Hiroki Ando Yoshitada Masuda Sertap Maral Eiji Shimizu Yoshiyuki Hirano |
| author_sort | Rio Kamashita |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Feeding and eating disorders are severe mental disorders that gravely affect patients’ lives. In particular, patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) appear to have poor social cognition. Many studies have shown the relationship between poor social cognition and brain responses in AN. However, few studies have examined the relationship between social cognition and BN. Therefore, we examined which brain regions impact the ability for social cognition in patients with BN. Methods We used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses during a social cognition task and the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). During the fMRI, 22 women with BN and 22 healthy women (HW) took the RMET. Participants also completed the eating disorder clinical measures Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) measure of depression; and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) measure of anxiety. Results No difference was observed in the RMET scores between women with BN and HW. Both groups showed activation in brain regions specific to social cognition. During the task, no differences were shown between the groups in the BOLD signal (p < 0.05, familywise error corrected for multiple comparisons). However, there was a tendency of more robust activation in the right angular gyrus, ventral diencephalon, thalamus proper, temporal pole, and middle temporal gyrus in BN (p < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons). Moreover, HW showed a positive correlation between RMET scores and the activation of two regions: medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); however, no significant correlation was observed in women with BN. Conclusions While activation in the mPFC and ACC positively correlated to the RMET scores in HW, no correlation was observed in BN patients. Therefore, women with BN might display modulated neural processing when thinking of others’ mental states. Further examination is needed to investigate neural processing in BN patients to better understand their social cognition abilities. Trial registration UMIN, UMIN000010220. Registered 13 March 2013, https://rctportal.niph.go.jp/s/detail/um?trial_id=UMIN000010220 |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:54:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5ae50bb33eb4480893637dc0b59edd5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1751-0759 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:54:58Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BioPsychoSocial Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5ae50bb33eb4480893637dc0b59edd52024-03-05T19:30:34ZengBMCBioPsychoSocial Medicine1751-07592024-02-0118111210.1186/s13030-023-00297-yAtypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental statesRio Kamashita0Rikukage Setsu1Noriko Numata2Yasuko Koga3Michiko Nakazato4Koji Matsumoto5Hiroki Ando6Yoshitada Masuda7Sertap Maral8Eiji Shimizu9Yoshiyuki Hirano10Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba UniversityDepartment of Cognitive Behavioral Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba UniversityResearch Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba UniversityResearch Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba UniversityDepartment of Clinical Psychiatry, Chiba University HospitalDepartment of Radiology, Chiba University HospitalDepartment of Radiology, Chiba University HospitalDepartment of Radiology, Chiba University HospitalUnited Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Chiba University and University of FukuiResearch Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba UniversityResearch Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba UniversityAbstract Background Feeding and eating disorders are severe mental disorders that gravely affect patients’ lives. In particular, patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) appear to have poor social cognition. Many studies have shown the relationship between poor social cognition and brain responses in AN. However, few studies have examined the relationship between social cognition and BN. Therefore, we examined which brain regions impact the ability for social cognition in patients with BN. Methods We used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses during a social cognition task and the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). During the fMRI, 22 women with BN and 22 healthy women (HW) took the RMET. Participants also completed the eating disorder clinical measures Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) measure of depression; and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) measure of anxiety. Results No difference was observed in the RMET scores between women with BN and HW. Both groups showed activation in brain regions specific to social cognition. During the task, no differences were shown between the groups in the BOLD signal (p < 0.05, familywise error corrected for multiple comparisons). However, there was a tendency of more robust activation in the right angular gyrus, ventral diencephalon, thalamus proper, temporal pole, and middle temporal gyrus in BN (p < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons). Moreover, HW showed a positive correlation between RMET scores and the activation of two regions: medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); however, no significant correlation was observed in women with BN. Conclusions While activation in the mPFC and ACC positively correlated to the RMET scores in HW, no correlation was observed in BN patients. Therefore, women with BN might display modulated neural processing when thinking of others’ mental states. Further examination is needed to investigate neural processing in BN patients to better understand their social cognition abilities. Trial registration UMIN, UMIN000010220. Registered 13 March 2013, https://rctportal.niph.go.jp/s/detail/um?trial_id=UMIN000010220https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-023-00297-yEating disordersSocial cognitionBulimia nervosaTheory of mindTask-based fMRI |
| spellingShingle | Rio Kamashita Rikukage Setsu Noriko Numata Yasuko Koga Michiko Nakazato Koji Matsumoto Hiroki Ando Yoshitada Masuda Sertap Maral Eiji Shimizu Yoshiyuki Hirano Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states BioPsychoSocial Medicine Eating disorders Social cognition Bulimia nervosa Theory of mind Task-based fMRI |
| title | Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states |
| title_full | Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states |
| title_fullStr | Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states |
| title_full_unstemmed | Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states |
| title_short | Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others’ mental states |
| title_sort | atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa an fmri study of patients thinking of others mental states |
| topic | Eating disorders Social cognition Bulimia nervosa Theory of mind Task-based fMRI |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-023-00297-y |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT riokamashita atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT rikukagesetsu atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT norikonumata atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT yasukokoga atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT michikonakazato atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT kojimatsumoto atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT hirokiando atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT yoshitadamasuda atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT sertapmaral atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT eijishimizu atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates AT yoshiyukihirano atypicalsocialcognitionprocessinginbulimianervosaanfmristudyofpatientsthinkingofothersmentalstates |