Title
Social cognition and executive function impairment in young women with anorexia nervosa
Other title
La cognición social y el daño de la función ejecutiva en mujeres jóvenes que padecen anorexia nerviosa
Date Issued
01 January 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa
Publisher(s)
Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid
Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a very debilitating disorder and has shown different cognitive deficit patterns. Some of them are controversial because they relate some deficit with autistic traits. Both, social cognition and executive function are top-down processes that regulate social interaction and adaptive behavior in a complex world. Neurocognitive profiles focused on this process are especially useful as endophenotypes in clinic research and intervention.The aims of this study are (1) assessing the contribution of social cognition and executive function to socio-emotional and neurocognitive patterns in anorexia nervosa and (2) investigating the possible relationships between social cognition tasks and executive function measures and clinic features in this eating disorder. Fifteen adolescents with anorexia nervosa and 15 healthy controls took part in this study. Patients were diagnosed with DSM-IV-R criteria. They had suffered the disease for 3 years (SD ± 1.47). They were compared in social cognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes and the IOWA Gambling Task) and executive function (verbal fluency tasks, trail making test, and digit span test [DST] from the WAIS-III). The results show that there was a significant difference in social cognition, at the theory of mind and the IOWA gambling task. Finally, for the executive function task, adolescents with AN displayed significant differences in both direct DST and inverse DST, as well as in semantic fluency and phonological fluency compared with controls. These domains show different highly-significant relationships that could explain neurocognitive profiles. In conclusion, many differences were found between adolescents with AN and healthy controls. AN patients displayed important deficits in theory of mind recognition, executive function, and decision making. These deficits could play a role in maintaining pathological patterns and also important endophenotypes in research and intervention might be considered.
Start page
107
End page
113
Volume
29
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Psicología (incluye terapias de aprendizaje, habla, visual y otras discapacidades físicas y mentales)
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85091158293
Source
Clinica y Salud
ISSN of the container
11305274
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus