B. Timothy Walsh

Objective: Avoidance of dietary fat is a highly characteristic eating behavior of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). To date, no study has determined whether these individuals are better able to perceive the fat content of foods than individuals without AN. The goal of this study was to compare blinded taste ratings of fat‐free, low fat, and regular cream cheese in patients with AN and in normal controls (NC).Method: AN (n = 25) and control (NC;n = 25) participants were presented with a series of nine cream cheese samples of three differing fat contents and asked to taste and rate each sample from very low to very high fat.Results: Repeated measures ANOVA found no significant main effect of fat content and no interaction between fat content and diagnosis; however, a significant three‐way interaction between fat content, diagnosis, and trial was observed.Post hocanalysis revealed a significant fat content by trial interaction within the AN group, suggesting a significant trial effect for the fat‐free samples only with improving ability to detect fat‐free samples over repeated trials.Discussion: The current study suggests that individuals with AN do not have a markedly greater ability to taste fat than NC, and that; therefore, fat avoidance is likely primarily based on cognitive factors. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:215–218)

ObjectiveIn this review, based on recent advances in cognitive neuroscience, the author presents a formulation in which the marked persistence of anorexia nervosa can be usefully understood as a well-ingrained maladaptive habit.MethodThe author reviewed the relevant literature on the development and course of anorexia nervosa and interpreted critical features in light of developments in cognitive neuroscience.ResultsAnorexia nervosa is a well characterized disorder with remarkable persistence both across history and among affected individuals. Food restriction, the salient behavioral feature of the disorder, often begins innocently but gradually takes on a life of its own. Over time, it becomes highly entrenched and resistant to change through either psychological or pharmacological treatment. Cognitive neuroscience has described two related but distinct processes that underlie the acquisition of new patterns of behavior, namely, action-outcome and stimulus-response learning. It is likely that both proces...