Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026

A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
Is anorexia nervosa a version of autism spectrum disorders?
Anna Oldershaw1, Janet Treasure, David Hambrook
1Section of Eating Disorders, Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. anna.oldershaw@kcl.ac.uk
Objectives:
Similarities have been noted between cognitive profiles of anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, there are no direct comparison studies. This study aimed to compare the cognitive profile of AN against published ASD data on tasks measuring empathy, executive function and central coherence.
Methods:
Currently ill AN outpatients (n = 40) were statistically compared against published ASD scores on Reading the Mind in the Eyes, Voice and Films tasks (assessing empathy), Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) (assessing executive function) and Embedded Figures Task (EFT) (assessing detail focus aspect of central coherence).
Results:
Cognitive profiles of the groups were statistically similar, except for differences in the relative patterns of empathy scores.
Conclusions:
The cognitive profile in current AN resembles that of ASD with important clinical implications. Replication studies with planned comparisons, examination of the state-or trait-nature of AN profile and clarification of factors underpinning similarities are required in order to broaden understanding of both disorders.
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