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The Malleability of Body Representation in Anorexia Nervosa: the Sixth Finger Illusion

NCT06316674 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2024-10-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Body representation can be explored using behavioural tasks such as motor imagery tasks as well as body illusions.

In both cases, evidence from studies on healthy individuals as well as patients with lesions to the central nervous system show that body representation is not set in stone: how we imagine our bodies is a dynamic and continuously updated process, to reflect changes in our own body as well as the environment.

In anorexia nervosa the representation of the body is very different from that of healthy individuals: the representation is more malleable, and easier to manipulate, while at the same time being more detached from physical constraints. These features of body representation in anorexia nervosa might contribute to the persistence of symptoms and to relapses too. Body representation has clear implications for treatment of anorexia nervosa too.

The study aims at evaluating the presence of differences in the malleability of the body representation, explored through the illusion of the sixth finger, between a group of people with AN and a group of normal weight people, taking into account the biomechanical constraints that characterize the physical and mentally represented body.

Conditions

  • Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

sixth finger illusion

Participants will undertake the sixth finger illusion that is a body illusion which elicits the presence of an extra numerary finger due to visuo-tactile stimulation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Heriot-Watt University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Birkbeck, University of London

    collaborator OTHER

  • Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

    collaborator OTHER

  • Istituto Auxologico Italiano

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
55 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-05-01
Primary Completion
2024-04-30
Completion
2024-04-30

Countries

  • Italy

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06316674 on ClinicalTrials.gov