Semantic memory on verbal fluency test in patients with anorexia nervosa

Authors

  • Ignacio Jauregui Lobera Instituto de Ciencias de la Conducta y Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Sevilla
  • Jesús M. Culebras De la Real Academia de Medicina de Valladolid y del IBIOMED, Universidad de León. Académico Asociado al Instituto de España. AcProfesor Titular de Cirugía. Director, Journal of Negative & No Positive Results. Director Emérito de NUTRICION HOSPITALARIA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19230/jonnpr.2853

Keywords:

Anorexia nervosa, human body parts, semantic memory, verbal fluency task

Abstract

Introduction. The aim of this study was to analyse the performance and the semantic organization of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and of healthy controls by means of a “Human Body Parts” type  of (Semantic Verbal Fluency) SVF task.

Method. A total of 58 participants took part in this study (23 suffered from anorexia nervosa, with a  mean age of 21.32 ± 2.53, and 35 healthy participants, with a mean age of 22.41 ± 1.67). The Verbal  Fluency Test “Human Body Parts” (a word naming task) was applied. In this task, participants were  asked to say as many “Human Body Parts” as possible in a period of 1 minute. Participants were given  the instruction not to repeat body parts already said. Responses were recorded and transcribed in order  to be analysed. 

Results. The mean number of words for the control group was 15.94 ± 7.79 and in case of anorectic patients it was 17.52 ± 5.23. With respect to intrusions and perseverance there were not any  significant differences, having obtained 0.10 (control group) and 0.11 (anorectic patients), and 0.42  (control group) and 0,46 (anorectic patients) respectively. With respect to correspondence analysis, a  two-dimensional representation yielded 90.01% of the total inertia, thus accepting two-dimensional map as valid. “Perceptible parts of human body” and “Internal parts” would be representative of one category and “Small parts” would be representative of the other. In the anorectic patients group some parts such  as waist, ass, thighs and calf muscle were the most remembered words. In the control group, internal  parts such as brain, heart and liver, along with tongue, are the most remembered words in the semantic  memory organization.

Discussion. Semantic maps obtained in both groups of participants appear to be very different. Specifically, the semantic category “body parts” seems to be very influenced by the presence of  anorexia nervosa. It is possible to conclude that studies on AN have reported controversial results in this  field of study.

 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Nikendei C, Weisbrod M, Schild S, Bender S, Walther S, Herzog W, et al. Anorexia nervosa: Selective processing of food-related word and pictorial stimuli in recognition and free recall tests. Int J Eat Disord2008;41:439-47.

Tekcan AI, CaglarTas A, Topçuoglu V, Yücel B. Memory bias in anorexia nervosa: Evidence from directed forgetting. J DehavTherExpPsychiat2008;39:369-80.

Pietrowsky R, Krug R, Fehm HL, Born J. Food deprivation fails to affect preoccupation with thoughts of food in anorectic patients. Br J ClinPsychol2002;41:321-6.

Hermans D, Pieters G, Eelen P. Implicit and explicit memory for shape, body weight, and food-related words in patients with anorexia nervosa and nondieting controls. J AbnormPsychol1998;107:193-202.

Sebastian SB, Williamson DA, Blouin DC. Memory bias for fatness stimuli in the eating disorders. Cognit Ther Res1996;20:275-86.

Stedal K, Inge Landrø N, Lask B. Verbal fluency in anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord2013;18:151-6.

Tchanturia K, Anderluh MB, Morris RG, Rabe-Hesketh S, Collier DA, Sanchez P, et al. Cognitive flexibility in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. J IntNeuropsycholSoc2004;10:513–20

Steinglass JE, Walsh T, Stern Y. Set shifting deficit in anorexia nervosa. J IntNeuropsycholSoc2006;12:431-5.

Hatch A, Madden S, Kohn MR, Clarke S, Touyz S, Gordon E et al. In first presentation adolescent anorexia nervosa, do cognitive markers of underweight status change with weight gain following a refeeding intervention? Int J Eat Disord 2010; 43:295-306.

Mathias JL, Kent PS. Neuropsychological consequences of extreme weight loss and dietary restriction in patients with anorexia nervosa. J ClinExpNeuropsychol1998;20:548-64

Murphy R, Nutzinger DO, Paul T, Leplow B. Conditional associative learning in eating disorders: a comparison with OCD. J ClinExpNeuropsychol2004;26:190-9.

Tchanturia K, Morris R, Anderluh M, Collier D, Nikolaou V, Treasure J. Set shifting in anorexia nervosa: an examination before and after weight gain, in full recovery and relationship to childhood and adult OCPD traits. J Psychiatr Res2004;38:545-52.

Stedal K, Frampton I, Landro NI, Lask B. An examination of the Ravello profile—a neuropsychological test battery for anorexia nervosa. Eur Eat Disorders Rev 2012; 20:175-81.

Berto G, Galaverna FS. Semantic memory organization on verbal fluency test “Human Body Parts” in patients with chronic schizophrenia diagnosis and healthy controls. Eur J Psychiat2016;30:97-108.

Collins AM, Loftus EF. A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing. Psychol Rev1975;82:407-28.

Rose M, Stedal K, Reville MC, van Noort BM, Kappel V, Frampton I, et al. Similarities and differences of neuropsychological profiles in children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls using cluster and discriminant function analyses. Arch ClinNeuropsychol2016;31:877- 95.

Abbate-Daga G, Buzzichelli S, Amianto F, Rocca G, Marzola E, McClintock SM, et al. Cognitive flexibility in verbal and nonverbal domains and decision making in anorexia nervosa patients: a pilot study. BMC Psychiatry2011;11:162. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-11-162.

Melinder MR, Barch DM; Heydebrand G, Csernansky JG. Easier tasks can have discriminative power: tha case of verbal fluency. J AbnormPsychol2005;114:385-91.

Le Clec’H G, Dehaene S, Cohen L, Mehler J, Dupoux E, Poline JB, et al. Distinct cortical areas for names of numbers and body parts independent of language and imput modality. Neuroimage 2000;12:381- 91.

Kemmerer D, Tranel D. Searching for the elusive neural substrates of body parts terms: a neuropsychological study. CognNeuropsychol2008;25:601-29.

Schwartz S, Baldo J. Distinct patterns of word retrieval in right and left frontal lobe patients: a multidimensional perspective. Neuropsychologia2001;39:1209-17.

Tombaugh TN, Kozak J, Rees L. Normative data stratified by age and education for two measures of verbal fluency: Fas and animal naming. Arch ClinNeuropsychol1999;14:167–77.

Beatty WW, Testa JA, English S, Winn P. Influences of clustering and switching on the verbal fluency performance of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Aging NeuropsycholCogn 1997; 4:273–79.

Rizzolatti G, Luppino G, Matelli M. The organization of the cortical motor system: new concepts. ElectroencephalogrClinNeurophysiol 1998;106: 283-96.

Tröster AI, Salmon DP, McCullough D, Butters N. A comparison of the category fluency deficits associated with Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Brain Lang1989;37:500-13.

Chan AS, Butters N, Paulsen JS, Salmon DP, Swenson MR, Maloney LT. An assessment of the semantic network in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. J CognNeurosci1993;5:254-61.

Marczinski CA, Kertesz A. Category and letter fluency in semantic dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Lang2006;97:258-65.

Published

2018-11-17