# Neural mechanisms of biased attention towards disorder-salient stimuli in bulimia nervosa

> **NIH NIH P20** · SANFORD RESEARCH NORTH · 2021 · $134,898

## Abstract

Neural mechanisms of biased attention towards disorder-salient stimuli in bulimia nervosa
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa (BN) are characterized by aberrant eating behaviors that are thought
to be promoted and maintained by an overvaluation of and preoccupation with weight, shape, and food. It has
been suggested that excessive concern with body image, and factors that affect body image (e.g., food and
eating), may maintain disordered eating behavior and other symptoms of BN by directing limited cognitive
resources towards disorder-salient stimuli, thereby interfering with perceptual and cognitive tasks and distorting
how the environment is perceived and interpreted by the individual. However, the temporal dynamics of
attentional engagement, the specificity of attention biases to disorder-salient stimuli, and the underlying neural
mechanisms that may give rise to them are still poorly understood. Although recent years have witnessed a
marked increase in basic cognitive and neuroscience research related to eating disorders, it is generally
acknowledged that the field lags behind other psychiatric disorders in terms of progress in understanding the
brain circuits and pathophysiology of this debilitating form of mental illness. Gaining this understanding is
critical if the promise of refined treatment modalities targeting BN is to be realized. The proposed project will
contribute to this endeavor by using innovative behavioral and electrophysiological methods to measure
attention biases towards disorder-salient stimuli, state-of-the-art imaging methods to assess brain functional
connectivity, and correlation-based statistical approaches to examine the relationship between the two. This
will provide a convergent approach that tests specific hypotheses regarding core processes that may be
disrupted in BN. Basic knowledge about the neural basis of attention biases in BN can provide insights into the
nature of a large number of psychiatric and neurological disorders that feature maladaptive preoccupations
with disorder-relevant stimuli, such as anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders. Moreover, understanding
attention biases and their neural bases can contribute to the development of novel behavioral and brain
stimulation-based methods of effectively treating these debilitating conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10087737
- **Project number:** 1P20GM134969-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** SANFORD RESEARCH NORTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeffrey Scott Johnson
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $134,898
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10087737

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10087737, Neural mechanisms of biased attention towards disorder-salient stimuli in bulimia nervosa (1P20GM134969-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10087737. Licensed CC0.

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