Sherman Bonnie J, Savage Cary R, Eddy Kamryn T, Blais Mark A, Deckersbach Thilo, Jackson Safia C, Franko Debra L, Rauch Scott L, Herzog David B
Center for Excellence in Women's Health, Boston University Medical Center, and Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Int J Eat Disord. 2006 Sep;39(6):468-76. doi: 10.1002/eat.20300.
There is growing interest in the relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum disorders (e.g., OCD, body dysmorphic disorder [BDD]). Previous neuropsychological investigations of OC spectrum disorders have identified problems with the efficient use of strategy on complex measures of learning and memory. This study evaluated nonverbal strategic memory in AN outpatients using an approach previously applied to OC spectrum disorders.
Eighteen patients with AN and 19 healthy control participants completed the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT), a widely used measure of nonverbal strategic planning, learning, and memory.
Individuals with AN differed significantly from healthy controls in the organizational strategies used to copy the RCFT figure, and they recalled significantly less information on both immediate and delayed testing. Multiple regression analyses indicated that group differences in learning were mediated by copy organizational strategies.
These results are identical to study findings in OCD and BDD, indicating important shared neuropsychological features among AN and these OC spectrum disorders. As in OCD and BDD, the essential cognitive deficit in AN was impaired use of organizational strategies, which may inform our understanding of the pathophysiology of AN and potentially offer treatment implications.
神经性厌食症（AN）与强迫（OC）谱系障碍（如强迫症、躯体变形障碍[BDD]）之间的关系越来越受到关注。先前对OC谱系障碍的神经心理学研究已经确定，在复杂的学习和记忆测量中，有效运用策略存在问题。本研究采用先前应用于OC谱系障碍的方法，评估了AN门诊患者的非言语策略性记忆。
18名AN患者和19名健康对照参与者完成了雷伊-奥斯特里赫复杂图形测试（RCFT），这是一种广泛用于测量非言语策略规划、学习和记忆的测试。
AN患者在复制RCFT图形时所使用的组织策略与健康对照者有显著差异，并且他们在即时和延迟测试中回忆的信息都明显更少。多元回归分析表明，学习方面的组间差异由复制组织策略介导。
这些结果与强迫症和躯体变形障碍的研究结果一致，表明AN与这些OC谱系障碍之间存在重要的共同神经心理学特征。与强迫症和躯体变形障碍一样，AN的主要认知缺陷是组织策略运用受损，这可能有助于我们理解AN的病理生理学，并可能提供治疗启示。
