Cognitive Process Difference among Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder

Abstract

Eating disorder has created severe health problems for people different in gender, age and culture. The cognitive process varies depending on different types of the eating disorder. The current study of the cognitive process, including impulsivity (including motor response and decision domain), behavioral flexibility (including set shifting and goal-directed behavior), and attention bias are reviewed for eating disorders including Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Then, the difference in decision-making is specifically discussed between AN, BN, and BED, indicating that decision impairment may reflect the trait of different types of the eating disorder. Besides, the decision-making process may reflect the different behavior of eating disorders. The article aims to categorize further subtypes of eating disorders and the conceptualization of AN-R (Restrictive type of Anorexia Nervosa), AN-B (Binging type of Anorexia Nervosa), BN, and BED. The result can bring more insights into neuroimaging to identify the underlying impairment, especially for the biological or cognitive endophenotypes that may attribute to impulsive and compulsive behavior for differentiating subtypes of obesity.