The Neuropsychological Correlates of Eating Disorders

The goal of my research was to examine the neuropsychological correlates of three eating disorders - anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder - to understand the pathology of these disorders and their relationship to the function of the human brain. In order to be able to fully comprehend and then treat and destigmatize eating disorders, this research needs to be integrated and developed further. Currently, the main mechanism used to study and measure the brain and its activity is neuroimaging. Neuroimaging is a method of analysis of brain activity, function, and structure that provides leads to understanding the underlying pathologies of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The most used neuroimaging techniques for eating disorder research are functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). These non-invasive techniques are used to assess brain structure and function and the electrical activity of neurons in the central nervous system, respectively. The analysis of these correlates allows a connection between symptoms or disordered behaviors and the abnormalities resulting from an eating disorder.This concluded that there are a  number of structural and functional differences that are strongly associated with eating disorders and the experienced impairments in reward processing, behavioral changes, and cognitive function. These are some of the symptoms exhibited in diagnosed individuals. Neurological brain networks are important in understanding the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Furthermore, the severity of the disorder, symptoms exhibited, treatment course, and prognosis are all related to the impacted brain networks. Although there is no causal evidence, it is possible that the symptoms experienced from eating disorders such as having altered perception of the body and the dysfunction of processing food related stimuli are a result of changing networks.