The neuropsychology of starvation: set-shifting and central coherence in a fasted nonclinical sample

Recent research suggests certain neuropsychological deficits occur in anorexia nervosa (AN). The role of starvation in these deficits remains unclear. Studies of individuals without AN can elucidate our understanding of the effect of short-term starvation on neuropsychological performance. Using a w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (10), p.e110743-e110743
Main Authors: Pender, Sarah, Gilbert, Sam J, Serpell, Lucy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Anxiety - psychology
Autism
Biology and Life Sciences
Bulimia
Cognition & reasoning
Coherence
Depression - psychology
Eating disorders
Fasting
Fasting - psychology
Female
Food
Health psychology
Humans
Medicine and Health Sciences
Neuropsychological Tests
Neuropsychology
Sense of Coherence
Set, Psychology
Short term
Starvation
Starvation - psychology
Studies
Systematic review
Young Adult
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Summary:Recent research suggests certain neuropsychological deficits occur in anorexia nervosa (AN). The role of starvation in these deficits remains unclear. Studies of individuals without AN can elucidate our understanding of the effect of short-term starvation on neuropsychological performance. Using a within-subjects repeated measures design, 60 healthy female participants were tested once after fasting for 18 hours, and once when satiated. Measures included two tasks to measure central coherence and a set-shifting task. Fasting exacerbated set-shifting difficulties on a rule-change task. Fasting was associated with stronger local and impaired global processing, indicating weaker central coherence. Models of AN that propose a central role for set-shifting difficulties or weak central coherence should also consider the impact of short-term fasting on these processes.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0110743