Employing executive functions of perceptual and memory abilities in underweight and weight-restored anorexia nervosa patients.

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) have been widely investigated in anorexia nervosa (AN) revealing difficulties in various aspects. We aimed at testing the effects of EF on stimuli perception and its representations in memory. Thirty AN underweight patients, 30 weight-restored AN patients, and 44 control participants, were recruited. Various EF were assessed using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, analyzed with the Boston Qualitative Scoring System. No differences were found in visuo-constructional measures in either AN groups compared to controls on the copy and memory stages. However, both groups performed significantly worse than controls on most EF variables in the copy stage, while in the immediate and delayed memory stages the difference was less substantial. Difficulties in EF among AN patients, current and weight restored, are more pronounced in the perceptual module and less so when employed through memory retrieval. The pattern, which is apparent after weight gain, suggests that there is no ameliorative effect on these difficulties.