Executive functioning in anorexia nervosa patients and their unaffected relatives

Clinical investigation of set-shifting subtypes in anorexia nervosa

“…This cognitive ability has been found to be altered with a high degree of consistency in adults with AN (Tchanturia et al, , 2012Galimberti et al, 2013; for a review see Jáuregui-Lobera (2013). Interestingly, our group demonstrated that adult AN patients are rigid not only in verbal but also in non-verbal domains, as recently confirmed (Pignatti and Bernasconi, 2013).…”

Impaired executive functioning influences verbal memory in anorexia nervosa

“…Because both executive and verbal memory impairments have been found in previous neuropsychological research including females with anorexia nervosa (Cavedini et al, 2004;Galimberti et al, 2012;Kemps et al, 2006;Steinglass et al, 2006;Tchanturia et al, 2004;Tchanturia et al, 2007;Tchanturia et al, 2011;Tchanturia et al, 2012;Bayless et al, 2002;Chui et al, 2008;Kingston et al, 1996;Higginson et al, 2000), we hypothesized that an interaction between speed of information processing and executive impairments could affect delayed verbal recall when information cannot be clustered as is the case in a logical memory test. If this interaction occurred, then SIP and inhibition tasks would predict delayed memory scores and would account for a high percentage of the variance on the LM task.…”

“…Previous research focusing on neuropsychological impairments in AN found impaired executive (Cavedini et al, 2004;Galimberti et al, 2012;Kemps, Tiggemann, Wade, Ben-Tovim, & Breyer, 2006;Steinglass, Walsh, & Stern, 2006;Tchanturia et al, 2004;Tchanturia et al, 2007;Tchanturia et al, 2011;Tchanturia et al, 2012) as well as verbal memory functioning (Bayless et al, 2002;Chui et al, 2008;Kingston, Szmukler, Andrewes, Tress, & Desmond, 1996;Weider, Indredavik, Lydersen, & Hestad, 2014). For example, Chui et al (2008) found significant differences in delayed verbal recall between weight-recovered participants and healthy females, but no such differences between lowweight participants and healthy controls.…”

Neuropsychological Functioning in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

“…On this regard, there are known investigations in which executive functioning has been compared in patients with eating disorders vs. healthy relatives and similar difficulties have been found; this could be a family trait associated with an increased risk of developing these disorders [58][59][60][61]. In addition, the visuoconstructive skills, planning and flexibility of thought have been compared in participants with eating disorders associated symptoms, and it was noted that the performance is more similar to that of the participants with AN and BN than that of the participants without eating disorders; however, it should be similar to normal populations since they do not have conditions of malnutrition, dehydration or other secondary comorbidity associated with eating disorders [4,62].…”