Reward Processing and Reinforcement Learning in Eating Disorders

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Substantial research spanning units of measurement has investigated whether eating disorders are associated with problems related to reward processing (i.e., the processes involved in seeking, responding to, and learning from motivating experiences). This domain of bottom-up responding has relevance for eating disorders, which involves extremes in approach and avoidance related to the primary reward of food. Individuals with eating disorders exhibit differences in responding to rewards that are illness-related (e.g., food, thin bodies) and unrelated (e.g., money). Proposed models of illness have posited that eating disorders are maintained by both excesses and deficiencies in reward responsivity and inhibition, depending on the diagnosis and symptom presentation. Further, some models suggest that individuals with eating disorders exhibit elevated reward responding to disorder-specific cues. Therapeutic interventions emerging from these theories have had promising results. However, results from studies assessing reward processing and reinforcement learning have been mixed, and difficult to synthesize. Further rigorous research is needed to clarify theories of reward processing and to evaluate their associated treatments.</jats:p>