No abstract

This study aimed to systematically appraise cross-sectional research that compared the cognitive performance of individuals in the acute phase of BN and/or AN to HCs on measures of impulsivity and compulsivity. The results of the systematic review showed support for the trans-diagnostic approach to eating disorders. There was no strong evidence to support the characterisation of AN as high in compulsivity (and low in impulsivity), nor to support the characterisation of BN as high in impulsivity (and low in compulsivity). There appeared to be mixed findings for both impulsivity and compulsivity across AN and BN. Results were highly variable due to the heterogeneous tasks used, and lack of replication across studies. There was no consensus amongst the included studies on the most appropriate task and/or outcome measures that should be used to study the constructs of impulsivity and compulsivity. Endophenotypes in eating disorder researchEndophenotypes reflect heritable enduring characteristics, independent of the state of the individual. Therefore, the characteristic will be present both prior to the development of the illness, after

Central to models of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the notion that dysfunctional application of avoidant emotion regulation strategies results in elevated emotional reactivity. To test this account, participants (N = 87) with varying severity of BPD underwent two negative mood inductions, the first with no particular instructions and the second following suppress or accept instructions. BPD severity was associated with greater negative affect at baseline. While BPD severity was associated with greater avoidance, this did not lead to differential reactivity or recovery when viewing the uninstructed film. Both instructed suppression and acceptance reduced emotional reactivity and accelerated recovery in the second film. While BPD severity did not influence how effectively instructed regulation could manage self-reported affect, those with more marked symptoms were trend less effective at regulating electrodermal response. Overall, these data provide little support for the notion that avoidant regulation strategies might lead to emotional hyper-reactivity in BPD, inconsistent with emotional dysregulation accounts of the disorder.

Previous research has shown that short-term fasting in healthy individuals is associated with changes in risky decision-making. The current experiment was designed to examine the influence of short-term fasting in healthy individuals on four types of impulsivity: reflection impulsivity, risky decision-making, delay aversion, and action inhibition. Participants were tested twice, once when fasted for 20 h, and once when satiated. Participants demonstrated impaired action inhibition when fasted; committing significantly more errors of commission during a food-related Affective Shifting Task. Participants also displayed decreased reflection impulsivity when fasted, opening significantly more boxes during the Information Sampling Task (IST). There were no significant differences in performance between fasted and satiated sessions for risky decision-making or delay aversion. These findings may have implications for understanding eating disorders such as Bulimia Nervosa (BN). Although BN has been characterized as a disorder of poor impulse control, inconsistent findings when comparing individuals with BN and healthy individuals on behavioral measures of impulsivity question this characterization. Since individuals with BN undergo periods of short-term fasting, the inconsistent findings could be due to differences in the levels of satiation of participants. The current results indicate that fasting can selectively influence performance on the IST, a measure of impulsivity previously studied in BN. However, the results from the IST were contrary to the original hypothesis and should be replicated before specific conclusions can be made.