Assessment of brain function in adolescent anorexia nervosa before and after weight gain

Abstract

This study assessed brain function in 20 adolescent females with anorexia nervosa (AN) and 20 controls using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a battery of neuropsychological tests. In the AN group, N4 latencies for a nonverbal memory task were significantly longer than for a verbal task, and P3 latencies for the verbal task were significantly longer among anorexics as compared to controls. On the nonverbal task, the AN group failed to show a right > left hemispheric asymmetry for P3 amplitudes which was observed for controls. These group differences for P3 latency and amplitude were particularly pronounced in the central-parietal region of the head. Body Mass Index (BMI) in the anorexic group significantly predicted N4 amplitudes for the verbal task in the left hemisphere and P3 amplitudes for the nonverbal task in the right hemisphere. The two groups did not differ on any of the tests used to assess neuropsychological functioning. Eight nutritionally recovered patients and their matched controls were retested using the same procedures. Anorexics showed larger P3 amplitudes for the verbal as compared to the nonverbal task at follow-up. These findings provide evidence for localized brain dysfunction in anorexia nervosa that only partially normalizes with weight gain.

Deficits in haptic perception and right parietal theta power changes in patients with anorexia nervosa before and after weight gain

“…AN patients showed no left-right asymmetry for the P3-amplitude in a nonverbal task. However, neither the studies of Bradley et al (1997) nor Pendleton-Jones et al (1991) found significant differences during neuropsychological examination, that is, no cognitive deficits were detected in AN patients.…”

“…On the basis of this assumption, Rovet, Bradley, Goldberg, and Wachsmuth (1988), Pendleton-Jones, Duncan, Brouwers, & Mirsky, (1991), and Bradley et al (1997) conducted neuropsychological studies exploring perceptive-cognitive functions of the right hemisphere in patients with AN. Bradley et al (1997) found changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) during perceptive-cognitive tasks that support the hypothesis of a right parietal dysfunction in patients with AN. Finally, they found significant differences in ERP amplitudes between an AN group and a control group (CO) in verbal as well as in nonverbal tasks.…”

“…The question remains: Do patients with AN show deficits in perceptive-cognitive tasks based on deficits of the right hemisphere? Taking into account the electrophysiological results obtained by Bradley et al (1997), the neuropsychological inventories used in studies were not sensitive enough to explore the right hemispheric deficits in AN patients. It is well known that individuals with AN usually have higher IQs than age-matched CO Gordon, Halmi, & Ippolito, 1984;Ranseen & Humphries, 1992;Witt et al, 1985).…”

Neuropsychological study of underweight and “weight‐recovered” anorexia nervosa compared with bulimia nervosa and normal controls

“…Findings in clinical populations are inconsistent and limited by small, diagnostically diverse groups and the use of variable outcome measures. [1][2][3] Although most neuropsychological studies in anorexia nervosa (AN) have suggested impairments in higher-level executive, memory, learning, and visuospatial functioning, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] some have not found abnormalities [14][15][16] and others have found superior functioning. [17][18] Some of these studies have lacked a normal control group (NC) 7,12 thereby limiting these findings.…”

Behavioral activation and lack of concern, core symptoms of anorexia nervosa?

“…For instance, in patients with right hemispheric lesions, lack of concern has been related to an absence of severe depression (Gasparrini, Satz, Heilman, & Collidge, 1978). Rovet, Bradley, Goldberg, and Wachsmuth (1988) and Bradley et al (1997) have reported evidence for atypical lateralization on a right hemisphere task in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. In another study, a lower weight and more severe anorectic symptomatology were correlated with increased left hemispheric activation, whereas weight gain, greater awareness of negative affect, and body part overestimation were related to an increase in right hemispheric activation (Casper & Heller, 1991).…”