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Central coherence in eating disorders: a systematic review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2008

C. Lopez ,
K. Tchanturia ,
D. Stahl  and
J. Treasure
C. Lopez*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
K. Tchanturia
Affiliation:
Division of Psychological Medicine, Eating Disorders Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
D. Stahl
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
J. Treasure
Affiliation:
Eating Disorders Research Unit, Department of Academic Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: C. Lopez, Eating Disorders Research Unit, 5th Floor, Academic Psychiatry Department, Bermondsey Wing, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK. (Email: carolina.lopez@iop.kcl.ac.uk)
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Abstract

Background

This review systematically appraised the research evidence for local versus global information processing to test the hypothesis that people with eating disorders (ED) had weak central coherence.

Method

Searches on Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO and ISI Web of Science databases were conducted in November 2006 and subsequently updated in September 2007. Each search was conducted in two steps: (1) neuropsychological tasks measuring central coherence and (2) words related to cognitive functioning in eating disorders. Data were summarized in a meta-analysis if the number of studies for a given test was >5.

Results

Data were extracted from 16 studies. Meta-analyses were conducted for four tasks obtaining moderate effect sizes. The majority of studies found global processing difficulties across the ED spectrum. The results are less clear regarding local processing.

Conclusions

People with ED have difficulties in global processing. It is less certain as to whether they have superior local processing. Currently, there is insufficient evidence to refute the weak central coherence hypothesis.

Keywords

Anorexia nervosabulimia nervosacognitive functionglobal processinglocal processingweak coherence
Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 10 , October 2008 , pp. 1393 - 1404
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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