Comparison of neuropsychological tests performance of the individuals higher and lower Yale Food Addiction Scores

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to compare neuropsychological test performances of individuals with and without food addiction (FA). Methods: Two hundred and six university students were the study’s sample. At the first step of the study, sociodemographic features, Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and body mass index (BMI) of the participants were evaluated. Twenty participants who met the FA criteria according to YFAS and twenty randomly selected participants among those who did not meet the FA criteria according to YFAS were included in the second step of the study. In the second step of the study, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), Stroop Test, and Benton’s Judgment of Line Orientation Test (JLO) were applied to the participants with and without FA. Results: Fifteen percent of the participants met the diagnosis of FA according to the YFAS. Stroop completion time, number of errors, number of spontaneous corrections, and interference were higher in the FA group than in the non-FA group (p=0.002, p<0.001, p=0.003, and p=0.001, respectively). Benton’s Judgment of Line Orientation test score was higher in the non-FA group than in the FA group (p=0.022). FA criteria number were correlated with Stroop-number of error and number of spontaneous corrections in participants with FA (r=.50 and r=.53, respectively). Conclusions: It can be said that there are attentional and visuospatial deficits in FA that are reflected in neuropsychological test performance.