title: Dissonance-Based Eating Disorder Prevention Program Reduces Reward Region Response to Thin Models; How Actions Shape Valuation.
abstract: Research supports the effectiveness of a dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program wherein high-risk young women with body dissatisfaction critique the thin ideal, which reduces pursuit of this ideal, and the theory that dissonance induction contributes to these effects. Based on evidence that dissonance produces attitudinal change by altering neural representation of valuation, we tested whether completing the Body Project would reduce response of brain regions implicated in reward valuation to thin models. Young women with body dissatisfaction were randomized to this intervention or an educational control condition, completing assessments and fMRI scans while viewing images of thin versus average-weight female models at pre and post. Whole brain analyses indicated that, compared to controls, Body Project participants showed greater reductions in caudate response to images of thin versus average-weight models, though participants in the two conditions showed pretest differences in responsivity of other brain regions that might have contributed to this effect. Greater pre-post reductions in caudate and putamen response to thin models correlated with greater reductions in body dissatisfaction. The finding that the Body Project reduces caudate response to thin models provides novel preliminary evidence that this intervention reduces valuation of media images thought to contribute to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders, providing support for the intervention theory by documenting that this intervention alters an objective biological outcome.
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stice
authors.affiliation: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokum
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon, Eugene, United States of America.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waters
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D003073:Cognitive Dissonance; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012201:Reward; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology*