Brockmeyer Timo, Simon Joe J, Becker Alexandra, Friederich Hans-Christoph
Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Physiol Behav. 2017 Nov 1;181:69-74. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.09.008. Epub 2017 Sep 8.
Heightened sensitivity towards reward and insensitivity towards disadvantageous consequences may constitute a driving factor underlying unrestricted food intake and consequent weight gain in people with overweight and obesity. Therefore, the present study applied a behavioral economics approach to investigate the potential contribution of poor reward-related decision making to unsuccessful long-term weight loss maintenance (i.e. weight cycling). Based on previous research, it was expected that successful long-term weight loss maintainers would show a better performance in a gambling task than their less successful counterparts.
Reward-related decision making was assessed post hoc using the Game of Dice Task in a total of 33 overweight and obese women who had either (a) successfully maintained initial weight loss of at least 10% of their body weight over one year or (b) had regained weight until at least their initial body weight prior to weight reduction (i.e. showed weight cycling).
The groups did not differ in terms of age, current body weight, magnitude of initial weight reduction, educational level, and global intelligence level. As hypothesized, however, the group of successful long-term weight loss maintainers performed significantly better (i.e. showed less impulsive, more advantageous choices) in the Game of Dice Task than their less successful counterparts.
The findings suggest that poor reward-related decision making is associated with weight cycling which is considered a key concern in weight loss treatments for overweight and obesity. Furthermore, the findings speak in favor of specific psychological interventions that are designed to bolster reward-related decision making.
对奖励的高度敏感和对不利后果的不敏感可能是超重和肥胖人群无节制饮食及随之而来体重增加的驱动因素。因此，本研究采用行为经济学方法，以调查与奖励相关的决策不佳对长期减肥维持失败（即体重循环）的潜在影响。基于先前的研究，预计长期成功维持体重减轻的人在赌博任务中的表现会优于维持效果较差的人。
在总共33名超重和肥胖女性中，使用骰子游戏任务事后评估与奖励相关的决策，这些女性要么（a）在一年中成功维持了至少10%体重的初始体重减轻，要么（b）体重已恢复到至少减重前的初始体重（即出现体重循环）。
两组在年龄、当前体重、初始体重减轻幅度、教育水平和整体智力水平方面没有差异。然而，正如假设的那样，长期成功维持体重减轻的组在骰子游戏任务中的表现明显优于维持效果较差的组（即表现出更少的冲动、更有利的选择）。
研究结果表明，与奖励相关的决策不佳与体重循环有关，而体重循环被认为是超重和肥胖减肥治疗中的一个关键问题。此外，研究结果支持旨在加强与奖励相关决策的特定心理干预措施。
