title: Executive Functioning and Visuospatial Abilities in Bulimia Nervosa with or without a Previous History of Anorexia Nervosa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to investigate executive functioning and visuospatial abilities in patients with bulimia nervosa (BN), with a particular interest in exploring the impact of a previous diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN).
  
  
  METHODS
  Several neuropsychological tasks were administered to 89 BN patients (52 with a previous history of AN and 37 without previous AN) and 160 healthy women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A poorer performance on set-shifting measures (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) was found only in BN patients with a previous history of AN. Decision-making abilities (Iowa Gambling Task) were significantly impaired in the whole sample of BN patients, but difficulties were more pronounced in the subgroup with previous AN. Finally, we did not find any differences in response inhibition and visuospatial abilities between the two samples of BN patients and healthy women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the idea that cognitive abilities in patients with BN are more impaired in the presence of a prior history of AN. The clinical and treatment implications of our findings should be explored in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Degortes
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tenconi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santonastaso
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6540-5194
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Favaro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000150:complications*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; executive functioning; neuropsychology