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. 2023 Jul 14:14:1197319.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197319. eCollection 2023.

Bodily self-recognition and body size overestimation in restrictive anorexia nervosa: implicit and explicit mechanisms

Marianna Ambrosecchia  1 , Martina Ardizzi  1 , Elisa Caterina Russo  2 , Francesca Ditaranto  3 , Maurizio Speciale  4 , Piergiuseppe Vinai  4 , Patrizia Todisco  2 , Sandra Maestro  5 , Vittorio Gallese  1   6
Affiliations

Bodily self-recognition and body size overestimation in restrictive anorexia nervosa: implicit and explicit mechanisms

Marianna Ambrosecchia et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

It is widely known that among others, a pervasive symptom characterizing anorexia nervosa (AN) concerns body image overestimation, which largely contributes to the onset and maintenance of eating disorders. In the present study, we investigated the nature of the body image distortion by recording accuracy and reaction times in both a group of healthy controls and AN patients during two validated tasks requiring an implicit or explicit recognition of self/other hand stimuli, in which the perceived size of the stimuli was manipulated. Our results showed that (1) the perceived size of hand stimuli modulated both the implicit and explicit processing of body parts in both groups; (2) the implicit self-advantage emerged in both groups, but the bodily self, at an explicit level (perceptual, psycho-affective, cognitive) together with the integration and the distinction between self and other, was altered only in restrictive anorexia patients. Although further investigations will be necessary, these findings shed new light on the relationship between the different layers of self-experience and bodily self-disorders.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; bodily self-disorders; body image distortion; body schema distortion; body size overestimation; eating disorders; hand laterality judgment; self-advantage.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental stimuli used in both implicit and explicit experiments, depicting the dorsal view of right and left hands in seven different sizes and five different clockwise orientations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Description of the experimental paradigm and order of events.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Estimated marginal means of participants' RTs in the function of Groups (HCg vs. ANg) and Laterality (R = Right vs. L = Left). Error bars depict the standard error of the mean. ***p < 0.001; n.s., not significant.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Slopes of participants' RTs in function of Groups (HCg vs. ANg) and Laterality (Right vs. Left). Error bars depict the standard error of the mean. n.s. = not significant; *P < 0.05; ***p < 0.001; n.s., not significant.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean percentage of participants' accuracy in function of Size. Error bars depict the standard error of the mean. ***p < 0.001; n.s., not significant.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Estimated Marginal Means of participants' RTs in function of Group (AHg vs. HCg) and Ownership (Other vs. Self). Error bars depict the standard error of the mean. ***p < 0.001.
Figure 7
Figure 7
D' prime rates of the two groups (ANg and HCg). Error bars depict the standard error of the mean. **p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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