Table 3.
Cross-sectional studies.
| Participants | Method | EF Domain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study | Group | N | Age M (SD) | Sex (% female) | BMI M (SD) | Cognitive task | Global EF/other EFs | Inhibition | Updating | Cognitive flexibility | Quality of the study |
| STUDY ON ADULT POPULATION | |||||||||||
| Ariza et al. (2012) | OB1 NW2 |
42 42 |
31.81 (6.51) 29.67 (6.97) | 67 69 |
38.3 (7.59) 22.07 (1.97) | TMT3 SCWT4 WCST5 Letter–Number Sequence | – | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | 83.3% |
| Bongers et al. (2015) | OB NW |
185 134 |
35.19 (7.59) 33.04 (8.15) | 71 74 |
38.18 (6.17) 22.35 (1.63) | Stop–Signal Task Delay Discounting Task (food cue) | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Brogan et al. (2011) | OB NW |
42 50 |
52.24 (10.89) 47.34 (16.34) | 71 66 |
41.45 (9.17) 24.36 (3.78) | IGT6 | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 83.3% |
| Catoira et al. (2016) | OB NW |
81 32 |
30 26.5 |
100 100 |
35.81 22.56 |
WCST TMT SCWT Verbal Fluency | – | OB poor than NW | – | OB equal to NW | 91.7% |
| Cohen et al. (2011) | OW NW |
42 107 |
58.9 (8.3) 61.2 (8.0) | 48 52 |
31.8 (6.8) 24.1 (1.4) | SCWT WCST TMT Digit Span | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 66.7% |
| Danner et al. (2012) | OB OB–BED7 NW | 18 19 30 |
44.56 (13.36) 38.05 (10.97) 36.13 (14.09) | 100 100 100 |
30.84 (3) 28.74 (6.25) 22.32 (1.96) | IGT | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 83.3% |
| Dassen et al. (2018a) | OB NW |
82 71 |
41.12 (12.62) 43.40 (13.44) | 64.4 77.5 |
38.94 (5.24) 22.63 (1.53) | 2–Back Task Stop–Signal Task TMT | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB equal to NW | 66.7% |
| Deckers et al. (2017) | OB NW |
545 1262 |
58 (15) 48.9 (16.2) | 58 46 |
31.2 (3.9) 24.9 (2.5) | Concept Shifting Test | – | – | – | OB poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Demos et al. (2017) | OB NW |
37 30 |
46.95 (7.9) 43.97 (8.9) | 100 100 |
33.5 (3.9) 22.7 (1.8) | Food Choice Decision Making Task | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 83.3% |
| Fagundo et al. (2012) | OB AN8 NW |
52 35 137 |
40.5 (11.1) 28.1 (8.2) 24.8 (7) | 100 100 100 |
39.8 (7.4) 17.2 (1.4) 21.5 (2.7) | WCST SCWT IGT | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| Frank et al. (2014) | OB ExOB9 NW |
11 9 11 |
42.6 (4) 42 (2.8) 36.6 (3.8) | 100 100 100 |
40.2 (0.8) 27.1 (0.9) 21.4 (0.5) | Working Memory Task (food cue) | – | – | OB equal to NW | – | 50.0% |
| Galioto et al. (2013) | OB OW10 NW |
81 210 288 |
51.78 (16.96) 50 (17.24) 44.72 (18.37) | 55.9 37.5 58 |
34.67 (5.59) 27.12 (1.45) 22.35 (1.73) | Digit Span Maze Test Switching of Attention Task | OB poor than NW | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Gameiro et al. (2017) | OB NW |
76 38 |
43.24 (9.05) 40.53 (10.75) | 68 71 |
>30 <25 | WCST Go/No–Go Task Color Trait Test Verbal Fluency Motor Series | – | OB poor than NW | – | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| Gonzales et al. (2010) | OB OW NW |
12 11 9 |
48.5 (8.6) 52 (5.1) 51.8 (4.3) | 50 45 77 |
34.4 (3.5) 27.4 (1.4) 22.4 (2.2) | Digit Span COWAT11 TMT n–Back Task | – | OB equal to OW equal to NW | OB equal to OW equal to NW | OB equal to OW equal to NW | 100.0% |
| Gunstad et al. (2007) [1] | OW NW |
140 178 |
32.40 (9.10) 31.56 (8.71) | 46.4 55.1 |
28.4 (4.42) 22.09 (1.71) | Verbal Interference Task Switching of Attention Task Maze Test | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| Gunstad et al. (2007) [2] | OW NW |
58 32 |
60.4 (7.62) 58.34 (6.62) | 55.1 53.4 |
29.17 (3.54) 23.09 (1.59) | Verbal Interference Task Switching of Attention Task Maze Task | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| Hendrick et al. (2012) | OB OW NW |
13 12 18 |
34.8 (9.6) 33.2 (16.7) 26.2 (6.7) | 100 100 100 |
33.2 (2.6) 25.6 (2) 20.2 (1) | Stop–Signal Task | – | OB equal to OW equal to NW | – | – | 83.3% |
| Lasselin et al. (2016) | OB–LowCR12 OB–HighCR13 NW | 29 37 20 |
39.4 (10.5) 37.9 (9) 38.9 (10.1) | 62 89 90 |
40.7 (3.7) 42 (3.8) 22 (3) | IED14 | – | – | – | OB–HighCR poor thanOB–LowCR; NW | 83.3% |
| Loeber et al. (2012) | OB NW |
20 20 |
47.9 (12.5) 44.9 (11.7) | 65 60 |
38.8 (6.3) 22.6 (1.1) | Go/No–Go Task [food cue] Dot Probe Task (food cue) | – | OB equal to NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Mole et al. (2015) | OB NW |
30 30 |
44.06 (9.7) 43.59 (10.01) | 37 37 |
32,72 (3.41) 24.11 (2.89) | Delay Discounting Task Stop–Signal Task Information Sampling Task | OB poor than NW | OB equal to NW | – | – | 83.3% |
| Navas et al. (2016) | OB OW NW |
20 21 38 |
32.15 (5.96) 35 (6.31) 33.18 (6.59) | 55 52 58 |
35.5 (2.6) 27.34 (1.59) 22.21 (1.70) | The Ehel of Fortune Task IGT | OB poor than OW; NW | – | – | – | 83.3% |
| Perpiñá et al. (2017) | OB NW |
27 39 |
47.78 (11.46) 31.9 (13.54) | 85.2 76.9 |
43.92 (10.04) 23.21 (3.48) | WCST IGT | OB poor than NW | – | – | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| Pignatti et al. (2006) | OB NW |
34 20 |
43.40 (8.13) 46.65 (16.33) | 42 50 |
42.17 (6) 22.16 (1.83) | IGT | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 66.7% |
| Restivo et al. (2017) | OB–Bar15 OB–BarDDM16 NW | 25 21 20 |
43.9 (10.7) 43.2 (10.9) 43.8 (11) | 92 90 90 |
44.7 (2.9) 43.7 (4.8) 22.4 (2) | COWAT SCWT WCST Color Trail Test PASAT17 | – | OB–Bar; OB–BarDDM poor than NW | OB–Bar; OB–BarDDM poor than NW | OB–Bar; OB–BarDDM poor than NW | 100.0% |
| Schiff et al. (2016) | OB NW |
23 23 |
36.2 (9.5) 33.8 (8.9) | 78 78 |
36.2 (5.7) 22.4 (2.2) | Temporal Discounting Task TMT FAB18 Simple RT Task Choice RT Task Sterburg Task Simon Task | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | 83.3% |
| Spitoni et al. (2017) | OB NW |
24 37 |
49.8 (13.66) 35.7 (11.2) | 79 65 |
41.1 (8.03) 22.5 (3.01) | BADS19-Rule shift Cards Hayling Sentence Completion Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 91.7% |
| Stanek et al. (2013) | OB NW |
152 580 |
43.45 (11.28) 47,66 (18) | 84 55 |
45.23 (6.91) 25.84 (4.97) | Digit Span Switching of Attention Task Verbal Interferences Maze Test | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Stingl et al. (2012) | OB NW |
34 34 |
36.5 (9.5) 38.4 (11) | 70 70 |
30.4 (3.2) 22 (2.1) | N–Back Visual Task (food cue) | – | – | OB poor than NW | – | 75.0% |
| Van der Oord et al. (2018) | OB NW |
39 25 |
42.82 (13.23) 44.9 (15.32) | 82.1 72 |
39.7 (5.31) 22.94 (1.43) | Stop–Signal Task IGT Chessboard Working Memory Task | OB equal to NW | OW equal to NW | OW equal to NW | – | 75.0% |
| Voon et al. (2014) | OB NW |
30 30 |
42.97 (8.59) 43.59 (10.01) | – | 32.72 (3.41) 24.11 (2.89) | Premature Responding Task | – | OB equal to NW | – | – | 58,3% |
| STUDY ON ADOLESCENTS | |||||||||||
| Alarcón et al. (2016) | OB OW NW |
18 46 88 |
14.4 (0.4) 13.8 (0.2) 14.2 (0.1) | 33 46 45 |
%Score 96.9 (0.3) 90 (0.4) 58.9 (1.8) | WS–WM20 | – | – | OB poor than OW; NW | – | 75.0% |
| Bauer and Manning (2016) | OW NW |
74 84 |
15.59 (1.30) 15.57 (1.24) | 100 100 |
%Score >85° <85° | Visual Working Memory Task | – | – | OW poor than NW | – | 75.0% |
| Calvo et al. (2014) | OB NW |
30 32 |
21.21 (2.45) 21.06 (2.32) | 60 53.1 |
36.36 (6.17) 21.66 (1.78) | Go/No–Go Task Running Memory Continuous Performance Task Standard Continuous Performance Task | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | 75.0% |
| Delgado-Rico et al. (2012) | OW NW |
42 21 |
14.19 (1.38) 14.14 (1.46) | 67 48 |
29.15 (4.51) 19.84 (2.64) | SCWT (Stroop–Switching Performance) | – | OW equal to NW | – | OW equal to NW | 66.7% |
| Fields et al. (2013) | OB OW NW |
21 20 20 |
14.86 (0.85) 15.2 (0.67) 15 (0.86) | 52 55 60 |
>95° 85°- 95° 5°- 85° | Delay Discounting Task Go/No–Go Task Conner's Continuous Performance Test | OB; OW poor than NW | OB equal to OW equal to NW | – | – | 83.3% |
| Galioto Wiedemann et al. (2014) | OB NW |
36 36 |
21.2 (2.9) 20.7 (2) | 61.1 50 |
36.4 (5.7) 22 (1.7) | Go/No–Go Task Running Memory Continuous Performance Task | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | 75.0% |
| Kittel et al. (2017) | OB OB–Bed NW |
22 22 22 |
14.82 (2.63) 14.91 (2.22) 15.23 (2.39) | 82 82 82 |
%score 98.91 (2.3) 99.16 (0.57) 58.91 (24.03) | IGT SCWT | OB equal to OB–Bed equal to NW | OB; OB–Bed poor than NW | – | OB equal to OB–Bed equal to NW | 75.0% |
| Maayan et al. (2011) | OB NW |
54 37 |
17.5 (1.59) 17.32 (1.59) | 63.6 56.8 |
39.86 (9.46) 21.67 (2.49) | SCWT TMT COWAT WRAML–WM21 | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 91.7% |
| Moreno-López et al. (2012) | OW NW |
36 16 |
14.22 (1.4) 14.13 (.136) | 72 56 |
28.53 (4.97) 20.26 (2.8) | SCWT | – | OB equal to NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Nederkoorn et al. (2006) | OB–Bed OB–NBed NW | 15 15 31 |
13.7 13.9 13.7 |
67 60 61 |
33 (4.3) 33.5 (4.4) 19.3 (2.0) | Stop–Signal Task Door Opening Task | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | – | – | 66.7% |
| Qavam et al. (2015) | OB OW NW |
40 40 40 |
[15–18] | 0 0 0 |
%Score >95° 85°-95° 5°-85° | TOL22 | OB poor than OW; NW. OW poor than NW | – | – | – | 66.7% |
| Sellaro and Colzato (2017) [1] | OW NW |
17 22 |
23.4 (0.8) 21.2 (0.6) | 75 77 |
27.7 (0.6) 21.9 (0.4) | Stop–Signal Task | – | OW poor than NW | – | – | 91.7% |
| Sellaro and Colzato (2017) [2] | OW NW |
19 24 |
22.9 (1) 20.5 (0.5) | 58 79 |
28.7 (0.6) 21.7 (0.4) | Simon Task | – | OW poor than NW | – | – | 91.7% |
| Steenbergen and Colzato (2017) | OW NW |
26 26 |
20.27 (0.44) 20.36 (0.41) | 73 81 |
27.58 (0.41) 21.67 (0.25) | Switching of Attention Task | – | – | – | OW poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Sweat et al. (2017) | OB NW |
108 54 |
19.6 (1.54) 19.39 (1.52) | 63 53.7 |
35.57 (4.97) 21.45 (1.87) | SWCT TMT TOL | – | OB equal to NW | – | OB equal to NW | 83.3% |
| Vantieghem et al. (2018) | OB NW |
62 30 |
15.8 (1.8) 16 (1.1) | 71 47 |
39.9 (8.19) 20.95 (2.11) | SCWT | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 83.3% |
| Verbeken et al. (2014) | OW NW |
64 66 |
13.59 (1.62) 12.42 (1.16) | 54.2 | Adjusted BMI (%) 145.37 (16.27) 102.56 (8.99) | HDT23 | OW poor than NW | – | – | – | 58,3% |
| Verdejo-García et al. (2010) | OW NW |
27 34 |
14.3 (1.2) 15.29 (0.91) | 41 38 |
31.58 (7.08) 21.01 (1.97) | SCWT Five–Digit Test TMT IGT | OW poor than NW | OW poor than NW | – | OW poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Weller et al. (2008) [1] | OB NW |
29 26 |
19.6 (2.9) 20 (2.6) | 100 100 |
38.4 (6.6) 21.9 (2.3) | Delay Discounting Task | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 75.0% |
| Weller et al. (2008) [2] | OB NW |
19 21 |
19.2 (1.3) 19.4 (1.5) | 0 0 |
35.4 (4.8) 22.3 (1.2) | Delay Discounting Task | OB equal to NW | – | – | – | 75.0% |
| Wu et al. (2016) | OB NW |
19 20 |
21.3 (2.6) | 74 70 |
33 (2.9) 22.2 (2.2) | SCWT TMT Verbal Fluency Digit Span | – | OB equal to NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 58.3% |
| Yau et al. (2014) | OB NW |
30 30 |
17.64 (1.62) 17.22 (1.55) | 57 63 |
35.47 (5.88) 21.12 (2.18) | TMT WCST SCWT COWAT | – | OB equal to NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 91.7% |
| STUDY ON YOUNG ADULTS | |||||||||||
| Coppin et al. (2014) | OB OW NW |
17 16 16 |
25.17 (4.39) 24.94 (4.55) 24.25 (4.25) | 53 44 56 |
36.02 (6.54) 27.63 (1.49) 22.43 (1.45) | CCPT24 | – | – | OB, OW poor than NW | – | 91.7% |
| Yadava and Sharma (2014) | UW NW NW2 OW OB | 39 50 58 58 25 |
26.9 [20–42] | 100 | <18.5 18.5–22.9 23–24.9 25–29.9 30 |
Digit Symbol Test SCWT Ascending Digit Task | – | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 75.0% |
| STUDY ON CHILDS | |||||||||||
| Blanco-Gómez et al. (2015) | OB OW NW |
39 149 316 |
[6–10] | 49 53 50 |
%Score >97 95–97 <95 |
Children's Color Traits Test (1,2) Five Digit Test | – | OB poor than OW; NW | – | OB poor than OW; NW | 83.3% |
| Bozkurt et al. (2017) | OB NW |
92 55 |
11.85 (2.43) 11.9 (2.96) | 56 54 |
29.73 (2.33) 21.07 (1.81) | FTT25 SDC26 SCWT SAT27 CPT28 | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | OB poor than NW | 83.3% |
| Gentier et al. (2013) | OB NW |
19 19 |
9.8 (1.5) 9.9 (1.5) | 47 47 |
Cut–off (Cole et al. 2000) 21.62 (3.51) 16.48 (1.76) | Four Choice Reaction Time Task | OB poor than NW | – | – | – | 58.3% |
| Goldschmidt et al. (2018) | OW–LC29 OW–C30 NW–C31 | 26 34 15 |
10.2 (0.9) 10.8 (1.1) 10.4 (1.1) | 61 56 60 |
z–score 2.08 (0.47) 2.02 (0.47) | Flanker Task DCCST32 IGT TOL List Sorting | OB–LC; OB–C poor than NW–C | OB–LC equal to OB–C equal to NW–C | OB–LC; OB–C poor than NW–C | – | 75.0% |
| Kamijo et al. (2012a) | OB OW NW |
30 26 70 |
9 (0.5) 8.7 (0.6) 8.9 (0.6) | 100 100 100 |
%score >95°>85° >5° | Go/No–Go Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Kamijo et al. (2012b) | OB NW |
37 37 |
9 (0.5) 8.9 (0.5) | 51 51 |
%score >95° 5°-85° | Go/No–Go Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Kamijo et al. (2012c) | OB NW |
37 37 |
8.9 (0.6) 8.8 (0.6) | 54 54 |
%score 98 (1.4) 56.8 (19.9) | Flanker Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 75.0% |
| Pearce et al. (2018) [1] | OB NW |
41 37 |
13.3 (3.4) 13.1 (2.7) | 54 30 |
%Score 98.8 (1.2) 58.3 (26.1) | BART33 | OB equal to NW | – | – | – | 75.0% |
| Pearce et al. (2018) [2] | OB NW |
29 30 |
11.4 (2.6) 11.9 (2.6) | 48 40 |
%Score 98.5 (1.3) 60.7 (25.4) | Stop–Signal Task N–Back Task | – | OB equal to NW | OB equal to NW | – | 75.0% |
| Reyes et al. (2015) | OW NW |
93 92 |
10.2 (1) 10.3 (0.2) | 44 46 |
z–score 1.9 (0.6) 0.1 (0.5) | SCWT Go/No–Go Task | – | WB poor than NW | – | 58.3% | |
| Skoranski et al. (2013) | OB NW |
28 32 |
12.8 (2.4) 12.8 (2.5) | 79 47 |
%Score >85° 5°- 85° | Arrow Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 58.3% |
| Tsai et al. (2016) | OB NW |
26 26 |
(month) 114.58 (3.69) 113.73 (3.85) | 31 31 |
%Score >95° 5°-85° | Posner Paradigm Task | – | OB poor than NW | – | – | 58.3% |
| Wu et al. (2017) | OB NW OW |
44 23 92 |
12.38 (1.22) 11.78 (1) 11.93 (0.92) | 32 26 56 |
>30 25–30 <25 |
Digit Span Memory Task (digits; digit–food cue; digit–cartoon) | – | – | OW poor than NW | – | 66.7% |
1OB, Obese; 2NW, Normal-Weight; 3TMT, Trail Making Test; 4SCWT, Stroop Color-Word Task; 5WCST, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; 6 IGT, Iowa Gambling Task; 7OB-BED, Obese with Binge Eating Disorder; 8AN, Anorexia Nervosa; 9ExOB, Normal-weight people who were previously obese; 10OW, Overweight; 11COWAT, Controlled Oral Word Association Task; 12OB-LowCR, Obese with low sensitivity to C-reactive protein; 13OB-HighCR, Obese with high sensitivity to C-reactive protein; 14IED, Intra/Extra-dimensional set shift test; 15OB-Bar, Obese and on the waiting list for bariatric intervention; 16OB-BarDDM, Obese and on the waiting list for bariatric intervention with Major Depressive Disorder; 17PASAT, Paced Auditory Serial Attention Test; 18FAB, Frontal Assessment Battery; 19 BADS, Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome; 20WS-WM, Working Memory Task of Wechsler Scale; 21WRAML-WM, Wide-Range Assessment of Memory and Learning-Working Memory; 22TOL, Tower of London; 23HDT, Hungry Donkey Task; 24CCPT, Conditioned Cue Preference Test; 25FTT, Finger-Tapping Test; 26SDC, Symbol Digit Coding; 27SAT, Shifting Attention Test; 28CPT, Continuous Performance Test; 29OW-LC, Overweight with high loss of control; 30OW-C, Overweight with low loss of control; 31NW-C, Normal-weight with low loss of control; 32DCCST, Dimensional Change Card Sort task; 33BART, Balloon Analog Risk Task.