ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2019
Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality.
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mapping body-related research within the experimental landscape of anorexia nervosa: a scoping review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Anorexia Nervosa, Body Image Perception and Virtual Reality Therapeutic Applications: State of the Art and Operational Proposal.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Use of Virtual Reality in Psychiatric Diagnostic Assessments: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Embodied morality in a disembodied world: Dishonesty in real online interactions.Computers in human behavior reports · 2026Article
- Rethinking the bodily self: evidence from the enfacement illusion in women at risk for eating disorders.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Predicting anorexia nervosa treatment efficacy: an explainable machine learning approach.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Does Identifying with Another Face Alter Body Image Disturbance in Women with an Eating Disorder? An Enfacement Illusion Study.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Temporal dynamics of full-body ownership and vicarious touch sensations as inferred from embodying a virtual avatar.Experimental brain research · 2025Article
- Behavioral, neuronal, and physiological facets of multidimensional body image in anorexia nervosa: a scoping review.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Review
- Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality for Motor Neurorehabilitation: Scoping Review Focused on the Role of Body Representation.JMIR XR and spatial computing · 2025Review
- Self /other recognition and distinction in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: A pilot study using a double mirror paradigm.PloS one · 2025Article
- Virtual Humans in Virtual Reality Mental Health Research: Systematic Review.JMIR XR and spatial computing · 2025Review
- Muscle Mass and Vitamin B6 Are Linked to Negative Body Image in Women with Anorexia Nervosa: A Retrospective Study.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Harnessing Immersive Virtual Reality: A Comprehensive Scoping Review of its Applications in Assessing, Understanding, and Treating Eating Disorders.Current psychiatry reports · 2024Article
- Body Perceptions and Psychological Well-Being: A Review of the Impact of Social Media and Physical Measurements on Self-Esteem and Mental Health with a Focus on Body Image Satisfaction and Its Relationship with Cultural and Gender Factors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Embodiment of underweight and normal-weight avatars affects bodily self-representations in anorexia nervosa.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Developmental changes of bodily self-consciousness in adolescent girls.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Probing corporeal awareness in women through virtual reality induction of embreathment illusion.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Fluid face but not gender: Enfacement illusion through digital face filters does not affect gender identity.PloS one · 2024Article
- Virtual Reality as an Innovative Tool for Eating Disorders Psychological Treatment.Health psychology research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
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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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.