Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:52:10.246Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impaired cognitive functioning during spontaneous dieting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael W. Green  and
Peter J. Rogers
Michael W. Green*
Affiliation:
Department of Consumer Sciences, Institute of Food Research, Reading Laboratory, Reading, Berks
Peter J. Rogers
Affiliation:
Department of Consumer Sciences, Institute of Food Research, Reading Laboratory, Reading, Berks
*
1Address for correspondence: Drs M. W. Green and P. J. Rogers, Department of Consumer Sciences, Institute of Food Research, Reading Laboratory, Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 2EF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

In one of a continuing series of studies, the cognitive performance of normal weight female dieters was compared on two sessions, 3 weeks apart. Those who reported themselves as being on a weight-reducing diet on only one of the two sessions displayed poorer vigilance performance, slower reaction times and poorer immediate recall of words when they were dieting. In contrast, performance on a low processing load tapping task was unaffected. Self-report measures showed that dietary restraint, but not state anxiety or depression was increased during dieting. These results are interpreted in terms of an association between dieting behaviour and high levels of distractibility, and extend earlier findings by demonstrating that these deficits in cognitive performance are closely related to dieting or the perceived need to diet per se.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 5 , September 1995 , pp. 1003 - 1010
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakan, P. (1959). Extroversion-introversion and improvement in an auditory vigilance task. British Journal of Psychology 50, 325–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. E. & Erbaugh, J. K. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deijen, J. B., Heemstra, M. L. & Orlebeke, J. F. (1989). Dietary effects of mood and performance. Journal of Psychiatry Research 23, 275–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, C. F. (1981). Neuropsychological correlates of anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 11, 285–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, E. (1993). Attentional bias in anxiety: selective or not? Behaviour Research and Therapy 31, 487–493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1979). The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine 9, 273–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodwin, C. M., Fairburn, C. G. & Cowen, P. J. (1987). Dieting changes serotonergic functioning in women but not men: implications for the aetiology of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine 17, 839–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, M. W., Rogers, P. J., Elliman, N. A. & Gatenby, S. J. (1994). Impairment of cognitive performance associated with dieting and high levels of dietary restraint. Physiology and Behaviour 55, 447–452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halperin, J. M. (1986). Defensive style and the direction of gaze. Journal of Research in Personality 20, 327–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamsher, K., de, S., Halmi, K. A. & Benton, A. L. (1981). Prediction of outcome in anorexia nervosa from neuropsychological status. Psychiatry Research 4, 79–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herman, C. P. & Polivy, J. (1991). Fat is a psychological issue. New Scientist 132, 41–45.Google Scholar
Herman, C. P., Polivy, J., Pliner, P., Threlkeld, J. & Munic, D. (1978). Distractibility in dieters and non-dieters: an alternative view of ‘externality’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43, 35–48.Google Scholar
Jones, B. P., Duncan, C. C., Brouwers, P. & Mirsky, A. F. (1991). Cognition in eating disorders. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 13, 711–728.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laessle, R. G., Bossert, S., Hank, G., Halweg, K. & Pirke, K. M. (1990). Cognitive performance in patients with bulimia nervosa: relationship to intermittent starvation. Biological Psychiatry 27, 549–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowe, M. R. (1993). The effects of dieting on eating behaviour: a three factor model. Psychological Bulletin 114, 100–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGree, S. & Herman, C. P. (1989). Dieter and non-dieter differences in social facilitation.Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the Canadian Psychological Association,Halifax, Nova Scotia,June 1989.Google Scholar
Parasuraman, R. (1979). Memory load and event rate control sensitivity decrements in sustained attention. Science 205, 924–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rogers, P. J. & Green, M. W. (1993). Dieting, dietary restraint and cognitive performance. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 32, 113–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Luschene, R., Vagg, P. R. & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press: Palo Alto, CA.Google Scholar
Van Strien, T., Frijters, J. E. R., Bergers, G. P. A. & Defares, P. B. (1986). The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional and external eating behaviour. International Journal of Eating Disorders 5, 295–315.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar