Set-shifting among adolescents with bulimic spectrum eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE

Set-shifting difficulties are observed among adults with bulimia nervosa (BN). This study aimed to assess whether adolescents with BN and BN spectrum eating disorders exhibit set-shifting problems relative to healthy controls.

METHODS

Neurocognitive data from 23 adolescents with BN were compared with those from 31 adolescents with BN-type eating disorder not otherwise specified and 22 healthy controls on various measures of set-shifting (Trail Making Task [shift task], Color-Word Interference, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Brixton Spatial Anticipation Task).

RESULTS

No significant differences in set-shifting tasks were found among groups (p >.35), and effect sizes were small (Cohen f < 0.17).

CONCLUSIONS

Cognitive inflexibility may develop over time because of the eating disorder, although it is possible that there is a subset of individuals in whom early neurocognitive difficulty may result in a longer illness trajectory. Future research should investigate the existence of neurocognitive taxons in larger samples and use longitudinal designs to fully explore biomarkers and illness effects.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov NCT00879151.