ArticleHeliyon2024
Embodiment of underweight and normal-weight avatars affects bodily self-representations in anorexia nervosa.
Article in Heliyon, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mapping body-related research within the experimental landscape of anorexia nervosa: a scoping review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled 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
- Ready-made bodily sensations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Body image distortion (BID) is a crucial aspect of anorexia nervosa (AN), leading to body overestimation, dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem. BID significantly influences the onset, maintenance, and relapse of the pathology. We assessed whether a Full Body Illusion (FBI) using under and normal-weight avatars' bodies affects perceptual body image and body schema estimations in both individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy controls (HC). After each embodiment procedure, we asked participants to estimate the width of their hips (Perceptual Body Image Task) and the minimum aperture width of a virtual door necessary to pass through it (Body Schema Task). Additionally, we asked participants to rate the avatars in terms of self-similarity, attractiveness, and implicit disgust (i.e., pleasant/unpleasant body odour). Whereas participants with AN (N = 26) showed changes in body schema estimations after embodying the normal-weight avatar, no changes were found in HC (N = 25), highlighting increased bodily self-plasticity in AN. Notably, individuals with AN rated the normal weight avatar as the most similar to their real body, which was also considered the least attractive and the most repulsive. These ratings correlated with BID severity. Furthermore, at the explicit level, all participants reported feeling thinner than usual after embodying the underweight avatar. Overall, our findings suggest that BID in AN engages multiple sensory channels (from visual to olfactory) and components (from perceptual to affective), offering potential targets for innovative non-invasive treatments aimed at modifying flexible aspects of body representation.
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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.