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Classical Stroop effect in bulimia nervosa

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Abstract

Bulimia nervosa (BN) is a distressing condition. Its pathogenesis is not fully understood. Neurocognitive functioning, and particularly inhibitory control, is a potential biomarker that may improve our understanding of BN. A few small-scale studies have used the classical Stroop Colour Word Test (SCWT) in BN with contradictory findings. We examined SCWT performance in a large sample of people with BN (N=72), eating disorder not otherwise specified — bulimic type (N=43) and healthy controls (N=50). The results found no difference between groups on Stroop interference effect. These findings question the utility of the classical SCWT as an assessment tool in examining executive functioning in BN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychological Medicine, Section of Eating Disorders, King’s College London, London, UK

    S. Guillaume, F. Van den Eynde, N. Samarawickrema, H. Broadbent, E. Goodman-Smith & U. Schmidt

  2. CHU de Montpellier, Université Montpellier I, Inserm, U1061, Montpellier, France

    S. Guillaume

Authors
  1. S. Guillaume
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  2. F. Van den Eynde
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  3. N. Samarawickrema
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  4. H. Broadbent
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  5. E. Goodman-Smith
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  6. U. Schmidt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Guillaume.

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Guillaume, S., Van den Eynde, F., Samarawickrema, N. et al. Classical Stroop effect in bulimia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord 17, e203–e206 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325349

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325349

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