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Use of an Operant Task to Estimate Food Reinforcement in Adult Humans With and Without BED
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Use of an Operant Task to Estimate Food Reinforcement in Adult Humans With and Without BED

Jennifer A Nasser, Suzette M Evans, Allan Geliebter, F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer and Richard W Foltin
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), v 16(8), pp 1816-1820
Aug 2008
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.281
PMID: 18535551
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
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https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.281View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility of food-reinforced operant task performance in modeling binge-eating disorder (BED). We hypothesized that food reinforcement after a caloric preload would be related to BED status, but not hunger. Methods and Procedures: We investigated the association between reports of hunger, binge tendency, and food reinforcement in a sample of 18 women (12 non-BED, 7 lean, 5 obese, and 6 obese BED). Participants completed two sessions of operant task performance after consuming 600 ml of flavored water or 600 ml of a 1 kcal/ml liquid meal. Results: Under the water condition, food reinforcement did not differ between the non-BED and BED groups, and was positively correlated with hunger ratings across all participants (r = 0.55, P = 0.023). Under the liquid meal condition, food reinforcement was significantly decreased compared with the water condition in the non-BED group (t = -2.6, P = 0.026). There was also a significant difference between the non-BED and BED groups in the fed condition (41 ± 40, 117 ± 60, F = 10.3, P = 0.005, non-BED vs. BED, respectively, mean ± s.d.). The correlation between food reinforcement and hunger remained significant only in the non-BED group (r = 0.69, P = 0.011). Discussion: Our results support the hypothesis that food reinforcement measured after a caloric preload is related to BED status but not hunger in those subjects with BED. The data also suggest that operant task performance can be useful in modeling BED criteria such as "eating when not physically hungry.

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26 citations in Web of Science
25 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Nutrition & Dietetics
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