Differential hemispheric involvement in anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Hemispheric function was assessed in 22 restricting anorexia nervosa (AN) female subjects and 22 normal female controls. Two verbal and two visuospatial tasks and a set of psychopathological tests were administered. The failure of the "classic" lateralization tests to reveal the expected left hemisphere dominance or a right hemisphere deficit in AN group, as compared to controls, is counterbalanced by the tendency of the psychopathological tests to prove the neuropsychological hypothesis of the present study. Neuropsychological interpretation of psychopathological data, however, does not constitute direct evidence and so further studies and more sophisticated techniques are needed.

The role of the right parietal lobe in anorexia nervosa

“…Eating disorders in AN are often accompanied by obsessive–compulsive disorders (OCD; Swinbourne & Touyz, 2007). Anorexia, like OCD, may be linked to basal ganglia (BG) dysfunction (Krieg et al 1991; Steinglass & Walsh, 2006), striatal dopamine dysfunction having been invoked to explain various AN symptoms (Kaye et al 1999; Wagner et al 2007).…”