Impaired executive functioning influences verbal memory in anorexia nervosa

Social Cognition and Executive Function Impairment in Young Women with Anorexia Nervosa

“…Besides, the executive function reflects a complex conjunction of cognitive processes such as verbal fluency, attention, working memory, planning, etc. Our results display similar differences with controls as previous studies (Calderoni et al, 2013;Fagundo et al, 2012;Gillberg et al, 2010;Oltra-Cucarella et al, 2012;Oltra-Cucarella et al, 2015;Zakzanis, Campbell, & Polsinelli, 2010). Alterations in the executive function in anorexia nervosa are well documented, exhibiting profound dysfunctions in prefrontal and cortico-subcortical networks.…”

Cognitive Decline in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Which Cognitive Domains are Most Vulnerable and Need to be Considered?

“…The information processing speed (IPS) is necessary to deal with different amounts of information and is a measure of the efficiency of mental function. Our results are in line with previous studies assessing inefficient IPS and visuospatial WM in patients suffering from AN [8,10]. The study by Oltra-Cucarella et al [8] found that the interaction of IPS and EF played a major role.…”

“…Our results are in line with previous studies assessing inefficient IPS and visuospatial WM in patients suffering from AN [8,10]. The study by Oltra-Cucarella et al [8] found that the interaction of IPS and EF played a major role. This kind of pattern of making trade-offs between speed and accuracy was also detectable in the current study: with the help of other assessment tools standard results were achieved in time-based components measuring inhibition and switching, and elevated scores on IPS and WM.…”

“…The participants performed worse than the HCs even after adjusting for nadir of body mass index and depression symptoms [10]. Oltra-Cucarella et al [8] found that IPS and inhibition account for almost 80% of the variance on verbal memory in patients suffering from AN. The authors suggested that impaired basic cognitive abilities such as IPS might influence other cognitive functions such as verbal or visuospatial memory and might be included as covariates to control for other cognitive abilities.…”

“…The latter changes seem to be associated with core symptoms of AN and impaired performance in executive functions (EF) comprising flexibility, inhibition, visuospatial processing and working memory (WM) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. It can be assumed that dysfunction in WM performance is related to preoccupying thoughts about food that may promote a more habitual and less flexible eating behavior [11] and serve as feasible factor for mental and behavioural symptoms in AN [6].…”