Prolonged P300 Latency in Eating Disorders

Abstract

This study investigated event-related potential (ERP) indices of information-processing in eating disorders. ERPs during an auditory two-tone discrimination task were recorded at midline at 3 sites in 28 anorexic patients, 12 low-weight bulimic patients (body mass index (BMI) under 17.5), 12 normal-weight bulimic patients (BMI over 17.5), and 40 control subjects. The P300 latency was significantly prolonged at all sites in both bulimic groups compared with that in controls, and at frontal and central electrode sites in anorexics. In contrast, the P300 amplitude did not differ between these groups at any site. The prolonged P300 latency in eating disorders suggests a task-related slowing of perceptual decisions that reflects their cognitive impairment.

Impulsiveness in Patients with Bulimia Nervosa: Electrophysiological Evidence of Reduced Inhibitory Control

“…In fact, P3 amplitude was increased for task-relevant stimuli that require a ‘controlled' information-processing modality (involving selective attention and a working memory load), suggesting that patients might use their intact effortful processing strategy to compensate for a deficit in suppression of irrelevant information. These findings are consistent with both previous electrophysiological results in bulimic patients [30] and the neuropsychological profile reported by our group [18,19]. …”

Cognitive processing of anorexic patients in recognition tasks: An event‐related potentials study

“…Moreover, delayed P300 latencies for simple geometrical shapes point to a slowdown of perceptual decision processes in anorexic subjects, as shown by Otagaki et al (1998) in an auditory odd-ball task. In this simple task, requiring only moderate attentional resources, anorexic subjects have longer perceptual decision times.…”

“…Thus, these deficits would only be seen in the presence of images containing human bodies, or food, but not in the presence of neutral stimuli (Cooper and Todd, 1997;Rieger et al, 1998). However, electrophysiological studies show abnormally long P300 latencies in simple discrimination tasks in anorexia (Duncan, Kaye, Perlstien, Jimerson, & Mirsky, 1985;Otagaki, Tohoda, Osada, Horiguchi, & Yamawaki, 1998). This delay in P300 latency was interpreted by Otagaki et al (1998) as reflecting task-specific slowing down of cognitive processing.…”

“…However, electrophysiological studies show abnormally long P300 latencies in simple discrimination tasks in anorexia (Duncan, Kaye, Perlstien, Jimerson, & Mirsky, 1985;Otagaki, Tohoda, Osada, Horiguchi, & Yamawaki, 1998). This delay in P300 latency was interpreted by Otagaki et al (1998) as reflecting task-specific slowing down of cognitive processing. Accordingly, perceptual processing in anorexia may be abnormally slow even in very simple tasks, regardless of stimulus type.…”

Sensory modulation disorder symptoms in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A pilot study

“…One study has reported significantly smaller auditory brain stem response amplitudes in patients with EDs compared with controls . Another study has found prolonged P300 latency in these patients in response to an auditory two‐tone discrimination task . These findings suggest the likelihood of abnormal auditory processing patterns in patients with EDs.…”