A Review on Executive Functions and Memory Processes Associated with Feeding and Eating Disorders

Abstract

From the beginning of humankind, feeding has become one of the most important requirements of social adaptation and survival. Since the 20th century, research on feeding and eating disorders has tried to give some explanations of various eating behaviors, such as starving because of thoughts about being overweight or non-stop binge eating by the individual, relational, or social factors. However, they are inadequate to fully explain the psychopathological and cognitive factors underlying feeding and eating disorders. The complex behavioral pattern behind eating disorders can lead to impairments in people’s attention, memory, and metacognitive processes. Certain higher-order cognitive mechanisms such as problem solving, reasoning, and decision making are impaired in individuals suffering from eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, compared to healthy individuals. Several researches aimed to find out evidence that may recover these impairments or that may lead to preventive measures for the risk of developing eating disorders. The aim of the current study is to examine the researches on the effects of eating disorders on individuals’ executive functions and memory processes and to explore the links between eating disorders, executive functions, and memory.