Altered abdominal spatial mapping despite preserved tactile acuity in adolescents with Restrictive Eating Disorders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Body perception disturbances are common in Restrictive Eating Disorders (REDs).
• Previous research in adults links REDs to altered tactile acuity and proprioceptive biases.
• Understanding these perceptual changes in adolescents, where REDs often emerge, is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate tactile and body perception alterations in adolescents diagnosed with REDs.
• To compare body landmark localization and tactile acuity between REDs patients and healthy controls (HCs).
• To explore the relationship between perceptual biases, tactile acuity, and body dissatisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 48 adolescents with REDs and 45 age-matched HCs.
• Administered tasks assessing tactile acuity and body landmark localization on the hand and abdomen.
• Utilized clinical questionnaires to measure body dissatisfaction.

Main Results:

• Adolescents with REDs exhibited significant biases in abdomen perception compared to HCs.
• Perception of the hand and tactile acuity did not differ between the REDs and HC groups.
• No significant correlations were found between perceptual biases, tactile acuity, and self-reported body dissatisfaction.

Conclusions:

• Body perception biases are present in adolescents with REDs, specifically affecting abdominal representation.
• These perceptual alterations in REDs appear localized and do not involve tactile processing deficits.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering specific body part representations in adolescent REDs.