Habit learning and anorexia nervosa: A cognitive neuroscience hypothesis

Abstract

Research on such neurocognitive disturbances has the potential both to inform understanding of neural mechanisms underlying AN and to lead to advances in treatment.

Neuropsychological study of underweight and “weight‐recovered” anorexia nervosa compared with bulimia nervosa and normal controls

“…31 The impaired CDR morse finger tapping task may implicate altered central dopaminergic function in AN and BN. The dopaminergic system is implicated given its role in motor tasks, 74 the sensitivity of finger-tapping tasks to the effects of striatal dopamine depletion studies, 75 and evidence for basal ganglia involvement in AN 76,77 in context of the significant role of dopamine in modulating basal ganglia activity. 78 It is possible that prescribed psychotropic medications in a minority of patients (Table 1) have impacted on neuropsychological performance, including attention, memory, and psychomotor functioning.…”

The Effectiveness of Cognitive Remediation Therapy in Patients with a Severe or Enduring Eating Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Patients with a low BMI do not seem to profit more from CRT than patients with a higher BMI [10,25,45]. The case studies in which the effectiveness of CRT has been investigated focused on patients with AN [9,19,20] because AN is often associated with a rigid, inflexible and perfectionistic thinking style [46,47]. However, the results of this study might suggest that CRT could also be beneficial for patients with bulimic behaviors (purging and binging) because poor set-shifting abilities could be a transdiagnostic feature in women with eating disorders [25].…”

Neuropsychological weaknesses in anorexia nervosa: Set‐shifting, central coherence, and decision making in currently ill and recovered women

“…3,4 In the past decade, the number of studies examining neuropsychological functioning in AN has increased considerably. [5][6][7] Results emphasize the influence of neuropsychological problems on the development, maintenance, and recovery from AN. [8][9][10] Neurobiological abnormalities that are thought to underlie neuropsychological weaknesses such as inflexibility and attention to detail have been suggested as important vulnerability factors.…”