Cognitive functioning, weight change and therapy in anorexia nervosa

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

“…These findings in the AN groups are consistent with another study utilizing a two-finger tapping task in female AN restricting subtype when compared with NC participants, with persistent impairments following three months of ''weight-recovery''. 73 Another study in dieters showed abnormal finger tapping performance. 31 The impaired CDR morse finger tapping task may implicate altered central dopaminergic function in AN and BN.…”

“…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.…”

“…[17][18] Some of these studies have lacked a normal control group (NC) 7,12 thereby limiting these findings. Cognitive deficits in AN may be the consequence of factors other than nutritional deficiency, 1 as a number of studies have neither demonstrated amelioration following nutritional restoration [4][5][6][19][20][21][22] nor correlation with low body mass indices (BMI). 7,23 Although the remission of physical symptoms in AN generally precedes psychological recovery, 24 findings regarding the effect of weight-recovery on neuropsychological function in AN have been conflicting.…”

Neuropsychology of Bulimia Nervosa: New Findings

“…Some studies indicate that, compared to normal controls, patients with ED have deficits in different neuropsychological domains including verbal and visual memory, visuo spatial ability, attention and executive functions (Bowers, 1994;Camacho et al, 2008;Green et al, 1996;Jones et al, 1991;Kingston et al, 1996;Lauer et al, 1999;Mathias & Kent, 1998;Szmukler et al, 1992). Although these findings consistently indicate that ED are associated with some degree of neuropsychological dysfunction, the specific aspect that is damaged varies between studies, possibly due to variations in methodology.…”

“…Gillberg et al, 2007) found no deficits in executive functions in patients with these disorders. Green et al (1996) compared patients with AN and control participants, finding that the AN group showed reaction time and motor speed poorer than control participants. Lauer et al (1999) investigated the neuropsychological demands of patients with AN and BN before, during, and after treatment that lasted 7 months.…”