Endophenotypes and Biomarkers in Eating Disorders: Genetic Underpinnings, Personality Traits, Vulnerabilities – Part 2
This post continues the discussion of the chapter on eating disorders by Carolina Lopez, Marion Roberts, and Janet Treasure from The Handbook of Neuropsychiatric Biomarkers, Endophenotypes and Genes (2009). Part 1 focused on neurotransmitter biomarkers, and this second part will focus on the neuropsychological biomarkers.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL BIOMARKERS
Attentional biases
Attentional bias is the tendency for individuals to attend to or be distracted by emotionally relevant stimuli over neutral stimuli. Attentional biases have been observed in several studies:
- Current AN and BN individuals showed bias towards food, body-related stimuli.
- Past AN but not past BN showed bias towards body shape concerns.
- Both current and “long-term recovered” AN showed “abnormally higher activation in the medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices in response to food stimuli using fMRI [brain imaging]” (232)
These biases can be minimal but annoying: waiting in line at the pharmacy, staring into space and finding your focus … Continue reading →