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Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality

We combined virtual reality and multisensory bodily illusion with the aim to characterize and reduce the perceptual (body overestimation) and the cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). For each participant (20 anorexics, 20 heal...

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Autores principales: Provenzano, Luca, Porciello, Giuseppina, Ciccarone, Sofia, Lenggenhager, Bigna, Tieri, Gaetano, Marucci, Matteo, Dazzi, Federico, Loriedo, Camillo, Bufalari, Ilaria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31906009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm9010098
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author Provenzano, Luca
Porciello, Giuseppina
Ciccarone, Sofia
Lenggenhager, Bigna
Tieri, Gaetano
Marucci, Matteo
Dazzi, Federico
Loriedo, Camillo
Bufalari, Ilaria
author_facet Provenzano, Luca
Porciello, Giuseppina
Ciccarone, Sofia
Lenggenhager, Bigna
Tieri, Gaetano
Marucci, Matteo
Dazzi, Federico
Loriedo, Camillo
Bufalari, Ilaria
author_sort Provenzano, Luca
collection PubMed
description We combined virtual reality and multisensory bodily illusion with the aim to characterize and reduce the perceptual (body overestimation) and the cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). For each participant (20 anorexics, 20 healthy controls) we built personalized avatars that reproduced their own body size, shape, and verisimilar increases and losses of their original weight. Body overestimation and dissatisfaction were measured by asking participants to choose the avatar that best resembled their real and ideal body. Results show higher body dissatisfaction in AN, caused by the desire of a thinner body, and no body-size overestimation. Interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) was then applied on the avatar reproducing participant’s perceived body, and on the two avatars which reproduced increases and losses of 15% of it, all presented with a first-person perspective (1PP). Embodiment was stronger after synchronous IMS in both groups, but did not reduce BID in participants with AN. Interestingly, anorexics reported more negative emotions after embodying the fattest avatar, which scaled with symptoms severity. Overall, our findings suggest that the cognitive-emotional, more than the perceptual component of BID is severely altered in AN and that perspective (1PP vs. 3PP) from which a body is evaluated may play a crucial role. Future research and clinical trials might take advantage of virtual reality to reduce the emotional distress related to body dissatisfaction.
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spelling pubmed-70196982020-03-09 Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality Provenzano, Luca Porciello, Giuseppina Ciccarone, Sofia Lenggenhager, Bigna Tieri, Gaetano Marucci, Matteo Dazzi, Federico Loriedo, Camillo Bufalari, Ilaria J Clin Med Article We combined virtual reality and multisensory bodily illusion with the aim to characterize and reduce the perceptual (body overestimation) and the cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). For each participant (20 anorexics, 20 healthy controls) we built personalized avatars that reproduced their own body size, shape, and verisimilar increases and losses of their original weight. Body overestimation and dissatisfaction were measured by asking participants to choose the avatar that best resembled their real and ideal body. Results show higher body dissatisfaction in AN, caused by the desire of a thinner body, and no body-size overestimation. Interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) was then applied on the avatar reproducing participant’s perceived body, and on the two avatars which reproduced increases and losses of 15% of it, all presented with a first-person perspective (1PP). Embodiment was stronger after synchronous IMS in both groups, but did not reduce BID in participants with AN. Interestingly, anorexics reported more negative emotions after embodying the fattest avatar, which scaled with symptoms severity. Overall, our findings suggest that the cognitive-emotional, more than the perceptual component of BID is severely altered in AN and that perspective (1PP vs. 3PP) from which a body is evaluated may play a crucial role. Future research and clinical trials might take advantage of virtual reality to reduce the emotional distress related to body dissatisfaction. MDPI 2019-12-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7019698/ /pubmed/31906009 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm9010098 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Provenzano, Luca
Porciello, Giuseppina
Ciccarone, Sofia
Lenggenhager, Bigna
Tieri, Gaetano
Marucci, Matteo
Dazzi, Federico
Loriedo, Camillo
Bufalari, Ilaria
Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title_full Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title_fullStr Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title_full_unstemmed Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title_short Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
title_sort characterizing body image distortion and bodily self-plasticity in anorexia nervosa via visuo-tactile stimulation in virtual reality
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31906009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm9010098
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