Kate Tchanturia

Bio: Kate Tchanturia is an academic researcher from King's College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Anorexia nervosa (differential diagnoses) & Eating disorders. The author has an hindex of 69, co-authored 252 publications receiving 13998 citations. Previous affiliations of Kate Tchanturia include Guy's Hospital & Georgia State University.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of set-shifting ability in eating disorders.

Abstract: Background. The aim was to critically appraise and synthesize the literature relating to set-shifting ability in eating disorders. PsycINFO, Medline, and Web of Science databases were searched to December 2005. Hand searching of eating-disorder journals and relevant reference sections was also undertaken. Method. The 15 selected studies contained both eating disorder and healthy control groups, and employed at least one of the following six neuropsychological measures of set-shifting ability ; Trail Making Test (TMT), Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST), Brixton task, Haptic Illusion, CatBat task, or the set-shifting subset of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). The outcome variable was performance on the set-shifting aspect of the task. Pooled standardized mean differences (effect sizes) were calculated. Results. TMT, WCST, CatBat and Haptic tasks had sufficient sample sizes for meta-analysis. These four tasks yielded acceptable pooled standardized effect sizes (0 . 36 ; TMT x1 . 05; Haptic) with moderate variation within studies (as measured by confidence intervals). The Brixton task showed a small pooled mean difference, and displayed more variation between sample results. The effect size for CANTAB set shifting was 0 . 17. Conclusion. Problems in set shifting as measured by a variety of neuropsychological tasks are present in people with eating disorders.

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory and depression: the role of executive control.

Abstract: It has been widely established that depressed mood states and clinical depression, as well as a range of other psychiatric disorders, are associated with a relative difficulty in accessing specific autobiographical information in response to emotion-related cue words on an Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986). In 8 studies the authors examined the extent to which this relationship is a function of impaired executive control associated with these mood states and clinical disorders. Studies 1–4 demonstrated that performance on the AMT is associated with performance on measures of executive control, independent of depressed mood. Furthermore, Study 1 showed that executive control (as measured by verbal fluency) mediated the relationship between both depressed mood and a clinical diagnosis of eating disorder and AMT performance. Using a stratified sample in Study 5, the authors confirmed the positive association between depressed mood and impaired performance on the AMT. Studies 6–8 involved experimental manipulations of the parameters of the AMT designed to further indicate that reduced executive control is to a significant extent driving the relationship between depressed mood and AMT performance. The potential role of executive control in accounting for other aspects of the AMT literature is discussed.

Emotional functioning in eating disorders: attentional bias, emotion recognition and emotion regulation

Abstract: Background.Interpersonal processes, anxiety and emotion regulation di!culties form a key part of conceptual models of eating disorders (EDs), such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), but the experimental findings to support this are limited. Method.The Reading the Mind in the Eyes task, the Di!culties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and a computerized pictorial (angry and neutral faces) Stroop task were administered to 190 women [50 with AN, 50 with BN and 90 healthy controls (HCs)]. Results.Those with an ED showed attentional biases to faces in general (medium e"ect), but specifically to angry faces over neutral faces (large e"ect) compared to HCs. The ED group also reported significantly higher emotion regulation di!culties (large e"ect) than HCs. There was a small di"erence between the ED and HC groups for the emotion recognition task (small-medium e"ect), particularly in the restricting AN (RAN) group. Depression and attentional bias to faces significantly predicted emotion regulation di!culties in a regression model. Conclusions.The data provide support for conceptualizations of EDs that emphasize the role of emotional functioning in the development and maintenance of EDs. Further research will concentrate on exploring whether these findings are state or trait features of EDs. Received 13 September 2009; Revised 14 December 2009; Accepted 17 December 2009

Childhood obsessive-compulsive personality traits in adult women with eating disorders: defining a broader eating disorder phenotype.

Abstract: Objective: The authors retrospectively examined a spectrum of childhood traits that reflect obsessive-compulsive personality in adult women with eating disorders and assessed the predictive value of the traits for the development of eating disorders. Method: In a case-control design, 44 women with anorexia nervosa, 28 women with bulimia nervosa, and 28 healthy female comparison subjects were assessed with an interview instrument that asked them to recall whether they had experienced various types of childhood behavior suggesting traits associated with obsessivecompulsive personality. The subjects also completed a self-report inventory of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Results: Childhood obsessive-compulsive personality traits showed a high predictive value for development of eating disorders, with the estimated odds ratio for eating disorders increasing by a factor of 6.9 for every additional trait present. Subjects with eating disorders who reported perfectionism and rigidity in childhood had significantly higher rates of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and OCD comorbidity later in life, compared with eating disorder subjects who did not report those traits. Conclusions: Childhood traits reflecting obsessive-compulsive personality appear to be important risk factors for the development of eating disorders and may represent markers of a broader phenotype for a specific subgroup of patients with anorexia nervosa.

Is Impaired Set-Shifting an Endophenotype of Anorexia Nervosa?

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Set-shifting difficulties have been reported in subjects with anorexia nervosa and appear to persist after recovery; therefore, they may be endophenotypic traits. The goals of this study were to investigate whether set-shifting difficulties are familial by examining discordant sister-pairs in comparison with healthy unrelated women and to replicate, with a broader battery, the lack of influence of an acute illness state on neuropsychological performance. METHOD: Forty-seven pairs of sisters discordant for anorexia nervosa and 47 healthy unrelated women who were comparable in age and IQ completed neuropsychological tasks selected to assess set-shifting ability. Analyses of variance with standard errors that are robust against correlations within family clusters were used to compare the groups. Results were adjusted for obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Subjects with acute (N=24) and fully remitted (N=23) anorexia nervosa were compared to assess state versus trait effects. R...

Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience

Abstract: A study with low statistical power has a reduced chance of detecting a true effect, but it is less well appreciated that low power also reduces the likelihood that a statistically significant result reflects a true effect. Here, we show that the average statistical power of studies in the neurosciences is very low. The consequences of this include overestimates of effect size and low reproducibility of results. There are also ethical dimensions to this problem, as unreliable research is inefficient and wasteful. Improving reproducibility in neuroscience is a key priority and requires attention to well-established but often ignored methodological principles.

The archaeology of knowledge

Abstract: We may not be able to make you love reading, but archaeology of knowledge will lead you to love reading starting from now. Book is the window to open the new world. The world that you want is in the better stage and level. World will always guide you to even the prestige stage of the life. You know, this is some of how reading will give you the kindness. In this case, more books you read more knowledge you know, but it can mean also the bore is full.

Of Theory and Practice

Abstract: Much has been written about theory and practice in the law, and the tension between practitioners and theorists. Judges do not cite theoretical articles often; they rarely "apply" theories to particular cases. These arguments are not revisited. Instead the Essay explores the working and interaction of theory and practice, practitioners and theorists. The Essay starts with a story about solving a legal issue using our intellectual tools - theory, practice, and their progenies: experience and "gut." Next the Essay elaborates on the nature of theory, practice, experience and "gut." The third part of the Essay discusses theories that are helpful to practitioners and those that are less helpful. The Essay concludes that practitioners theorize, and theorists practice. They use these intellectual tools differently because the goals and orientations of theorists and practitioners, and the constraints under which they act, differ. Theory, practice, experience and "gut" help us think, remember, decide and create. They complement each other like the two sides of the same coin: distinct but inseparable.

COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: Systematic review of the current evidence.

Abstract: Background During the COVID-19 pandemic general medical complications have received the most attention, whereas only few studies address the potential direct effect on mental health of SARS-CoV-2 and the neurotropic potential. Furthermore, the indirect effects of the pandemic on general mental health are of increasing concern, particularly since the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic (2002–2003) was associated with psychiatric complications.