<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_gp-2018-0008_s_006_w2aab3b7b6b1b6b1aab1c14b1Aa"><h3>Objectives</h3><p>Since evidence on executive control among women with Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa (AN/BN) are somehow inconclusive, we aimed to explore whether performance in set-shifting in AN/BN might be influenced by Facial Emotion Recognition (FER).</p></sec><sec id="j_gp-2018-0008_s_007_w2aab3b7b6b1b6b1aab1c14b2Aa"><h3>Methods</h3><p>We randomly recruited women with a diagnosis of AN or BN, from an Eating Disorders Outpatient Clinic in Italy, as well as healthy controls (HCs). We evaluated with established tools: diagnosis (Eating Disorder Examination- EDE-17.0), executive control (Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift-IED) and FER (Ekman 60 Faces Test-EK-60F). Univariate distributions by diagnostic subgroups were assessed on sociodemographic and clinical variables, which were selected for subsequent multiple linear regression analyses.</p></sec><sec id="j_gp-2018-0008_s_008_w2aab3b7b6b1b6b1aab1c14b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>Women with AN performed significantly worse than HCs on IED adjusted total errors. HCs scored significantly better than AN and BN on EK-60F fear subscale. Although IED set shifting was associated (p = 0.008) with AN, after controlling for age, EK-60F fear subscale, alexithymia and depression (i.e., clinically relevant covariates identified a priori from the literature, or associated with AN/BN at univariate level), this association could not be confirmed.</p></sec><sec id="j_gp-2018-0008_s_009_w2aab3b7b6b1b6b1aab1c14b4Aa"><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Impaired executive control may not be a distinctive feature in women with AN, since several clinical characteristics, including fear recognition ability, are likely to have an important role. This has significant implications for relevant interventions in AN, which should aim at also improving socio-emotional processing.</p></sec></abstract>

ObjectivesSince evidence on executive control among women with Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa (AN/BN) are somehow inconclusive, we aimed to explore whether performance in set-shifting in AN/BN might be influenced by Facial Emotion Recognition (FER).MethodsWe randomly recruited women with a diagnosis of AN or BN, from an Eating Disorders Outpatient Clinic in Italy, as well as healthy controls (HCs). We evaluated with established tools: diagnosis (Eating Disorder Examination- EDE-17.0), executive control (Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift-IED) and FER (Ekman 60 Faces Test-EK-60F). Univariate distributions by diagnostic subgroups were assessed on sociodemographic and clinical variables, which were selected for subsequent multiple linear regression analyses.ResultsWomen with AN performed significantly worse than HCs on IED adjusted total errors. HCs scored significantly better than AN and BN on EK-60F fear subscale. Although IED set shifting was associated (p = 0.008) with AN, after controlling for age, EK-60F fear subscale, alexithymia and depression (i.e., clinically relevant covariates identified a priori from the literature, or associated with AN/BN at univariate level), this association could not be confirmed.ConclusionsImpaired executive control may not be a distinctive feature in women with AN, since several clinical characteristics, including fear recognition ability, are likely to have an important role. This has significant implications for relevant interventions in AN, which should aim at also improving socio-emotional processing.

Facial emotion recognition performance influences executive control impairment in Anorexia Nervosa: an exploratory study

Global Psychiatry

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

ObjectivesSince evidence on executive control among women with Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa (AN/BN) are somehow inconclusive, we aimed to explore whether...

Facial emotion recognition performance influences executive control impairment in Anorexia Nervosa: an exploratory study

Published Online: Oct 22, 2018

Page range: 53 - 60

Received: Aug 20, 2018

Accepted: Sep 13, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gp-2018-0008

Keywords
Executive control, facial emotion recognition, eating disorders

© 2018 Giuseppe Carrà, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Facial emotion recognition performance influences executive control impairment in Anorexia Nervosa: an exploratory study

Published Online: Oct 22, 2018

Page range: 53 - 60

Received: Aug 20, 2018

Accepted: Sep 13, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gp-2018-0008

KeywordsExecutive control, facial emotion recognition, eating disorders

© 2018 Giuseppe Carrà, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Executive control, facial emotion recognition, eating disorders