Executive functions in adolescents with binge‐eating disorder and obesity

Abstract

Overall, our results indicate that adolescent BED is associated with only a few alterations in general EF, specifically inhibitory control, and underline BED and educational level as confounding factors in neuropsychological research on obesity. To further delineate EF profiles of adolescents with BED, future research should focus on EF in response to disorder-related stimuli and experimental settings with high ecological validity.

Unravelling the association between inhibitory control and loss of control over eating among adolescents

“…However, our findings are at odds with previous reports of impaired inhibitory control in adults with loss of control over eating (Balodis et al, 2013;Manasse et al, 2016) and in a clinical sample of adolescents with binge eating disorder (Kittel et al, 2017). There are several possible explanations for these contrasting results.…”

“…First, the handful of studies conducted to date recruited very different samples. Balodis et al (2013) and Manasse et al (2016) used an adult community sample, whereas Kittel et al (2017) used a clinical adolescent sample, and the current study used an adolescent community sample. Selfregulation, and in particular inhibitory control, are generally fully developed by adulthood, with a maturation peak visible during adolescence (Crone, 2009).…”

“…To our knowledge, thus far only one study has investigated the specific role of inhibitory control in an adolescent sample with loss of control over eating. In particular, Kittel, Schmidt, and Hilbert (2017) compared inhibitory control capacities (using the Color-Word Interference Test) of obese adolescents with binge eating disorder (which encompasses loss of control over eating) with obese adolescents without binge eating disorder and normal-weight controls (all aged 12 -20 years). The…”

Food specific inhibitory control under negative mood in binge‐eating disorder: Evidence from a multimethod approach*

“…Individuals with BED show an increased approach impulse towards reward (Schag, et al, 2013a;Schmidt, Luthold, Kittel, Tetzlaff, & Hilbert, 2016) as well as inhibitory control deficits (Balodis, Grilo, & Potenza, 2015;Hege et al, 2014;Mole et al, 2015;Schag, Sch€ onleber, Teufel, Zipfel, & Giel, 2013b;Schag, et al, 2013a;Svaldi et al, 2014). In a recent study, obese adolescents with BED showed increased general inhibitory control deficits compared with a normal weight control group (Kittel, Schmidt, & Hilbert, 2017). Schag et al (2013a) investigated inhibitory control with eye tracking (ET) methodology in BED without manipulating mood and found general as well as food specific inhibitory control deficits in individuals with BED compared with individuals without BED.…”

Childhood Eating and Feeding Disturbances

“…Current research focuses on the neurocognitive profile underlying eating and feeding disturbances. For adolescent binge-eating disorder, previous evidence documented a biased processing of visual food stimuli [12] and impaired inhibitory control [13], likely contributing to binge-eating episode occurrence. In 9-16-year-old youth with loss of control eating, Biehl et al [14] investigated the processing of distracting visual food stimuli during a Go/NoGo task via electroencephalography and found that in NoGo trials, mean P3 amplitudes were significantly higher when the distractor was a high-calorie food stimulus versus a neutral stimulus, while in Go trials, the loss of control group's mean P3 amplitudes did not vary across distractor categories.…”