Cognitive flexibility in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATE TCHANTURIA ◽  
MARIJA BRECELJ ANDERLUH ◽  
ROBIN G. MORRIS ◽  
SOPHIA RABE-HESKETH ◽  
DAVID A. COLLIER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Mental Flexibility ◽  
Perceptual Shift ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Cognitive Shifting

The aim of this study was to determine if there are differences in cognitive flexibility in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Fifty-three patients with an eating disorder (34 with anorexia nervosa and 19 with bulimia nervosa) and 35 healthy controls participated in the study. A battery of neuropsychological tests for cognitive flexibility was used, including Trail Making B, the Brixton Test, Verbal Fluency, the Haptic Illusion Test, a cognitive shifting task (CatBat) and a picture set test. Using exploratory factor analysis, four factors were obtained: 1: Simple Alternation; 2: Mental Flexibility; 3: Perseveration; and 4: Perceptual Shift. Patients with anorexia nervosa had abnormal scores on Factors 1 and 4. Patients with bulimia nervosa showed a different pattern, with significant impairments in Factors 2 and 4. These findings suggest that differential neuropsychological disturbance in the domain of mental flexibility/rigidity may underlie the spectrum of eating disorders. (JINS, 2004, 10, 513–520.)

The links between body dysmorphic disorder and eating disorders

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 302-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Rabe-Jablonska Jolanta ◽  
M. Sobow Tomasz
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Body Dysmorphic Disorder ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Healthy Controls

SummaryThe aim of the study was to search for a body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) period preceding the symptoms meeting the criteria of either anorexia or bulimia nervosa, and an evaluation of the prevalence of BDD symptoms in a control group of girls without any eating disorder. Ninety-three girls (12–21 years old) were included in the study (36 with anorexia nervosa, 17 with bulimia nervosa and 40 healthy controls). The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID), including the BDD module, and a novel questionnaire (for the presence of preceding life events) were used. We found the symptoms of BDD in 25% of anorexia nervosa sufferers for at least six months before observing a clear eating disorder picture. Moreover, other mental disorders were also present among these patients. The results may support the idea that BDD and anorexia nervosa both belong to either OCD or affective disorders spectra.

Oxytocin secretion in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: Investigation of its relationships to temperament personality dimensions

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S161-S162
Author(s):  
M. Nigro ◽  
A.M. Monteleone ◽  
L. Steardo ◽  
G. Patriciello ◽  
V. Di Maso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Novelty Seeking ◽  
Personality Dimensions ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
Underweight Patients ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
First Time

IntroductionSome temperament characteristics of personality seem to be modulated by oxytocin. Patients suffering from eating disorders (EDs) display aberrant personality traits.Objectives and aimsWe investigated the relationships between plasma oxytocin levels and personality dimensions of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and compared them to those of healthy controls.MethodsPlasma oxytocin levels were measured in 23 women with AN, 27 women with BN and 19 healthy controls and assessed their personality traits by means of the Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R).ResultsAN patients showed plasma levels of the hormone significantly lower than BN and healthy controls. In healthy women, plasma oxytocin levels resulted significantly correlated negatively with novelty seeking scores and positively with both harm avoidance (HA) scores and the attachment subscale scores of the reward dependence: these correlations explained 82% of the variability in circulating oxytocin. In BN patients, plasma oxytocin resulted negatively correlated with HA, whereas no significant correlations emerged in AN patients.ConclusionsThese findings confirm a dysregulation of oxytocin secretion in AN but not in BN and show, for the first time, that the association of circulating oxytocin to patients’ temperament traits is totally lost in underweight patients with AN and partially lost or even inverted in women with BN. These findings suggest a role of oxytocin in certain deranged behaviours of ED patients, which are influenced by the subjects’ personality traits.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Cognitive Functions across the GNB3C825TPolymorphism in an Elderly Italian Population

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Casiglia ◽  
Nunzia Giordano ◽  
Valérie Tikhonoff ◽  
Giovanni Boschetti ◽  
Alberto Mazza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Test Figure ◽  
Elderly Men ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Figure Drawing ◽  
State Examination

To verify whether theC825Tpolymorphism of the GNB3 influences the response to neuropsychological tests, mini-mental state examination, digit span (DS), immediate and delayed prose memory, memory with interference at 10 and 30 seconds (MI 10 and 30), trail making tests (TMTs) A and B, abstraction task, verbal fluency (VF) test, figure drawing and copying, overlapping figures test and clock test were performed in 220 elderly men and women free from clinical dementia and from neurological and psychiatric diseases randomly taken from the Italian general population and analysed across theC825Tpolymorphism. The performance of DS, immediate and delayed prose memory, VF, and TMTs was worse in subjects who were TT for the polymorphism in comparison to the C-carriers. The performance of all tests declined with age. In the case of DS, immediate and delayed prose memory, MI 10 and VF, this trend was maintained in the C-carriers but not in TT. In the case of prose memory, of memory with interference, and of VF, schooling reduced the detrimental interaction between age and genotype. TheC825Tpolymorphism of GNB3 gene therefore influences memory and verbal fluency, being additive to the effects of age and partially mitigated by schooling.

scholarly journals Inflexibility in Reasoning: Comparisons of Cognitive Flexibility, Explanatory Flexibility, and Belief Flexibility Between Schizophrenia and Major Depressive Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Zhu ◽  
Nate Tsz-kit Kwok ◽  
Tracey Chi-wan Chan ◽  
Gloria Hoi-kei Chan ◽  
Suzanne Ho-wai So
Keyword(s):  
Major Depressive Disorder ◽  
Depressive Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Attributional Style ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Attributional Style Questionnaire ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Explanatory Flexibility

Introduction: Inflexibility in reasoning has been suggested to contribute to psychiatric disorders, such as explanatory flexibility in depression and belief flexibility in schizophrenia. However, studies tended to examine only one of the flexibility constructs, which could be related to each other, within a single group of patients. As enhancing flexibility in thinking has become one of the psychological treatment goals across disorders, this study aimed to examine three constructs of flexibility (cognitive flexibility, explanatory flexibility, and belief flexibility) in two psychiatric groups.Methods: We compared three groups of participants: (i) 56 outpatients with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and active delusions, (ii) 57 outpatients with major depressive disorder and at least a moderate level of depression, and (iii) 30 healthy controls. Participants were assessed on symptom severity and flexibility, using the Trail-Making Task, the Attributional Style Questionnaire, the Maudsley Assessment of Delusions Scale (MADS) and the Bias Against Disconfirmatory Evidence (BADE) Task.Results: Cognitive flexibility was reduced in the two clinical groups compared to controls. Explanatory flexibility was comparable across groups. The three groups differed in belief flexibility measured by MADS but not by the BADE task. Response to hypothetical contradiction was reduced in the delusion group than the other two groups, and the ability to generate alternative explanations was reduced in the delusion group than healthy controls.Discussion: We found an effect of diagnosis on cognitive flexibility, which might be confounded by differences in intellectual functioning. Reduced belief flexibility tended to be specific to delusions.

A meta-analysis of neuropsychological markers of vulnerability to suicidal behavior in mood disorders

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1663-1673 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Richard-Devantoy ◽  
M. T. Berlim ◽  
F. Jollant
Keyword(s):  
Mood Disorders ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Iowa Gambling Task ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Patient Groups

BackgroundSuicidal behavior results from a complex interplay between stressful events and vulnerability factors, including cognitive deficits. However, it is not clear which cognitive tests may best reveal this vulnerability. The objective was to identify neuropsychological tests of vulnerability to suicidal acts in patients with mood disorders.MethodA search was made of Medline, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases, and article references. A total of 25 studies (2323 participants) met the selection criteria. A total of seven neuropsychological tests [Iowa gambling task (IGT), Stroop test, trail making test part B, Wisconsin card sorting test, category and semantic verbal fluencies, and continuous performance test] were used in at least three studies to be analysed.ResultsIGT and category verbal fluency performances were lower in suicide attempters than in patient controls [respectively, g = –0.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) –0.65 to –0.29 and g = –0.32, 95% CI –0.60 to –0.04] and healthy controls, with no difference between the last two groups. Stroop performance was lower in suicide attempters than in patient controls (g = 0.37, 95% CI 0.10–0.63) and healthy controls, with patient controls scoring lower than healthy controls. The four other tests were altered in both patient groups versus healthy controls but did not differ between patient groups.ConclusionsDeficits in decision-making, category verbal fluency and the Stroop interference test were associated with histories of suicidal behavior in patients with mood disorders. Altered value-based and cognitive control processes may be important factors of suicidal vulnerability. These tests may also have the potential of guiding therapeutic interventions and becoming part of future systematic assessment of suicide risk.

scholarly journals Shared executive dysfunctions in unaffected relatives of patients with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Delorme ◽  
Véronique Goussé ◽  
Isabelle Roy ◽  
Anca Trandafir ◽  
Flavie Mathieu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Design Fluency ◽  
Executive Dysfunctions

AbstractBackgroundExecutive dysfunctions have been studied as a potential endophenotype associated with the genetic basis of autism. Given that recent findings from clinical and molecular genetic studies suggest that autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) could share a common pattern of heritability, we assessed executive functions as a possible common cognitive endophenotype in unaffected family members of individuals with either autism or OCD.MethodsFive tests assessing executive functions (Tower of London, verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making and association fluency) were proposed to 58 unaffected first-degree relatives (parents and siblings) of probands with autism and 64 unaffected first-degree relatives of OCD patients. Results were compared with those of 47 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and level of education.ResultsIn the Tower of London test, both groups of unaffected relatives showed significantly lower scores and longer response times compared with controls. No differences were observed between autism and OCD relatives and healthy controls in the four other tasks (verbal fluency, design fluency, trail making test and association fluency).ConclusionsOur findings show the existence of executive dysfunction in the unaffected first-degree relatives of probands with OCD, similar to those observed in the relatives of patients with autism. These results support and extend previous cognitive studies on probands indicating executive dysfunctions in autism and OCD. Planning and working memory processes could thus represent a common cognitive endophenotype in autism and OCD that could help in the identification of genes conferring vulnerability to these disorders.

Perception of Autonomy and Connectedness Prior to the Onset of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Huemer ◽  
Maria Haidvogl ◽  
Fritz Mattejat ◽  
Gudrun Wagner ◽  
Gerald Nobis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Image Test ◽  
Restrictive Type

Objective: This study examines retrospective correlates of nonshared family environment prior to onset of disease, by means of multiple familial informants, among anorexia and bulimia nervosa patients. Methods: A total of 332 participants was included (anorexia nervosa, restrictive type (AN-R): n = 41 plus families); bulimic patients (anorexia nervosa, binge-purging type; bulimia nervosa: n = 59 plus families). The EATAET Lifetime Diagnostic Interview was used to establish the diagnosis; the Subjective Family Image Test was used to derive emotional connectedness (EC) and individual autonomy (IA). Results: Bulimic and AN-R patients perceived significantly lower EC prior to onset of disease compared to their healthy sisters. Bulimic patients perceived significantly lower EC prior to onset of disease compared to AN-R patients and compared to their mothers and fathers. A low family sum – sister pairs sum comparison – of EC had a significant influence on the risk of developing bulimia nervosa. Contrary to expectations, AN-R patients did not perceive significantly lower levels of IA compared to their sisters, prior to onset of disease. Findings of low IA in currently ill AN-R patients may represent a disease consequence, not a risk factor. Conclusions: Developmental child psychiatrists should direct their attention to disturbances of EC, which may be present prior to the onset of the disease.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document