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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
Handedness differences in body image distortion and eating disorder symptomatology
Stephen D Christman1, Michelle Bentle, Christopher L Niebauer
1Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606, USA. stephen.christman@utoledo.edu
Objective:
Previous research has shown decreased access in strong right-handers to processes lateralized to the right cerebral hemisphere. The current studies tested the hypothesis that decreased access to right hemisphere processes, as indexed by increasing strength of right-hand preference, is associated with deficits in body image representation.
Method:
Experiment 1 measured individual's perceived versus actual BMI values. Experiment 2 involved the administration of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2).
Results:
Experiment 1 revealed that strong right-handedness was associated with a larger discrepancy between actual and perceived BMI, relative to mixed-handedness. In Experiment 2, strong-handers scored higher on the EDI-2 than did mixed-handers.
Conclusion:
The results indicate that strong degrees of handedness are associated with deficits in accurate representation of body image and with increased eating disorder symptomatology in a nonclinical sample. Implications for research into the neural bases of eating disorders are discussed.
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