Visuospatial Abilities in Eating Disorders

A consistent body of research reports reduced ability in visuospatial processing in the eating disorder population. It has been hypothesized that this neurocognitive alteration may be a consequence of the eating disorder per se or an underlying trait-marker. Visuospatial difficulties, in particular weak central coherence (a bias towards detail-focusing thinking style), along with executive dysfunctions, have been proposed as endophenotypic traits for anorexia nervosa individuals. In particular, anorexia nervosa patients and their unaffected relatives show a specific detail-focused information processing bias along with a central coherence weakness, with limited ability to gain and integrate contextual information. In bulimia nervosa individuals’ visuospatial profile appears less compromised, and, if a dysfunction is present, it seems to characterize specifically bulimia nervosa individuals with a prior history of anorexia nervosa. Visuospatial abilities should be detected and addressed in specific treatment programs due to their potentially negative role in both treatment outcome and body image disturbance, which typically affect individuals on the whole eating disorders spectrum.