Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting
Abstract Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder characterized by food restriction in service of a future goal: thinness and weight loss. Prior work suggests altered intertemporal decision-making in this disorder, with more farsighted decisions—i.e. reduced delay discounting—in patients with ac...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80597-7 |
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| author | Isabel Schuman Jingyi Wang Ian C. Ballard Regina C. Lapate |
| author_facet | Isabel Schuman Jingyi Wang Ian C. Ballard Regina C. Lapate |
| author_sort | Isabel Schuman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder characterized by food restriction in service of a future goal: thinness and weight loss. Prior work suggests altered intertemporal decision-making in this disorder, with more farsighted decisions—i.e. reduced delay discounting—in patients with acute anorexia nervosa. Future-oriented cognition, such as frequent prospective future thinking in daily life, promotes farsighted decision making. However, whether temporal orientation is altered in anorexia nervosa, potentially contributing to reduced delay discounting in this population, remains unclear. We measured delay discounting behavior, anorexia nervosa symptomatology, and temporal orientation in a large sample of never-diagnosed individuals. We found that higher anorexia nervosa symptomatology was associated with reduced delay discounting. Anorexia nervosa symptoms were also correlated with increased future-oriented cognition. Moreover, future-oriented cognition mediated the difference in delay-discounting behavior between high and low anorexia nervosa symptom groups. These results were unrelated to subjective time perception and independent of mood and anxiety symptomatology. Collectively, these findings suggest that future-oriented cognition may be a cognitive mechanism underlying altered intertemporal decision making in anorexia nervosa. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-27a8bbca1c4f465ab0636ce8969568bf |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-27a8bbca1c4f465ab0636ce8969568bf2025-02-09T12:28:42ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-02-0115111310.1038/s41598-024-80597-7Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discountingIsabel Schuman0Jingyi Wang1Ian C. Ballard2Regina C. Lapate3Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa BarbaraDepartment of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa BarbaraDepartment of Psychology, University of California, RiversideDepartment of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa BarbaraAbstract Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder characterized by food restriction in service of a future goal: thinness and weight loss. Prior work suggests altered intertemporal decision-making in this disorder, with more farsighted decisions—i.e. reduced delay discounting—in patients with acute anorexia nervosa. Future-oriented cognition, such as frequent prospective future thinking in daily life, promotes farsighted decision making. However, whether temporal orientation is altered in anorexia nervosa, potentially contributing to reduced delay discounting in this population, remains unclear. We measured delay discounting behavior, anorexia nervosa symptomatology, and temporal orientation in a large sample of never-diagnosed individuals. We found that higher anorexia nervosa symptomatology was associated with reduced delay discounting. Anorexia nervosa symptoms were also correlated with increased future-oriented cognition. Moreover, future-oriented cognition mediated the difference in delay-discounting behavior between high and low anorexia nervosa symptom groups. These results were unrelated to subjective time perception and independent of mood and anxiety symptomatology. Collectively, these findings suggest that future-oriented cognition may be a cognitive mechanism underlying altered intertemporal decision making in anorexia nervosa.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80597-7 |
| spellingShingle | Isabel Schuman Jingyi Wang Ian C. Ballard Regina C. Lapate Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting Scientific Reports |
| title | Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| title_full | Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| title_fullStr | Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| title_short | Willing to wait: Anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| title_sort | willing to wait anorexia nervosa symptomatology is associated with higher future orientation and reduced intertemporal discounting |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80597-7 |
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