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Overgeneralization of Conditioned Fear as a Pathogenic Marker of Anorexia Nervosa

NCT02148042 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 26

Last updated 2019-07-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Anorexia nervosa is a chronic mental health condition characterized by maladaptive food consumption (i.e., hypophagia) and distorted body image. There is substantial evidence of a phenotypic overlap between anorexia nervosa and anxiety disorders, as well as data suggesting the two share a common genetic pathway. Despite these findings, little research has examined fear conditioning among individuals with anorexia nervosa, and no research has examined whether individuals with anorexia nervosa have a propensity to overgeneralize conditioned fear stimuli, one of the more robust fear-conditioning markers of anxiety disorders. The current study assesses generalization of conditioned fear with fear-potentiated startle: the cross-species enhancement of the startle reflex when an organism is in a state of fear. Animal data, as well as an emerging literature in humans, tightly links fear-potentiated startle to the amygdala-based fear circuit. Thus, evidence of overgeneralized fear-potentiated startle in anorexia nervosa would link this eating disorder to hypersensitivity of the fear circuit and could inform the development of novel pharmacologic and psychological treatments for anorexia nervosa based on treatment models used in the anxiety disorders literature.

Conditions

  • Anorexia
  • Generalized Anxiety

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Kelly C. Berg, PhD · University of Minnesota

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-04-30
Primary Completion
2016-07-31
Completion
2016-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT02148042 on ClinicalTrials.gov