Contribution of executive functions to eating behaviours in obesity and eating disorders.

AbstractBackground:Patients with eating disorders (ED) or obesity show difficulties in tasks assessing decision-making, set-shifting abilities and central coherence.Aims:The aim of this study was to explore executive functions in eating and weight-related problems, ranging from restricting types of ED to obesity.Method:Two hundred and eighty-eight female participants (75 with obesity; 149 with ED: 76 with restrictive eating, 73 with bingeing-purging symptoms; and 64 healthy controls) were administered the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Iowa Gambling Task, and the Group Embedded Figures Test to assess set-shifting, decision-making and central coherence, respectively.Results:Participants wi…