Demographic and clinical correlates of selective information processing in patients with bulimia nervosa.

Demographic and clinical correlates of interference with color-naming words related to eating, weight, and shape were investigated in 75 patients with bulimia nervosa. Interference with color-naming was related to two measures, overall level of psychiatric symptoms and frequency of purging. Multiple regression analysis showed that frequency of purging, and not level of general psychiatric symptoms, was the best predictor of interference. Thus, as would be predicted by cognitive theories, interference appears to be most closely related to features specific to bulimia nervosa rather than to measures of general psychopathology.