Beyond body image: what body schema and motor imagery can tell us about the way patients with anorexia nervosa experience their body

• Published in: Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences Vol. 77; no. 2; pp. 94 - 101
• Main Authors: Meregalli, Valentina, Tenconi, Elena, Madan, Christopher R., Somà, Enrica, Meneguzzo, Paolo, Ceccato, Enrico, Zuanon, Sophia, Sala, Alessandra, Favaro, Angela, Collantoni, Enrico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 01.02.2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Anorexia; Anorexia Nervosa; Body Image; body schema; Eating disorders; Humans; Imagination; Intelligence Tests; Mental task performance; motor imagery; Self image; body schema; motor imagery; body image; eating disorders; anorexia nervosa
• ISSN: 1323-1316; 1440-1819
• DOI: 10.1111/pcn.13501

Aim Recent evidence suggests that the body image disturbance often observed in patients with anorexia nervosa also extends to the body schema. According to the embodiment approach, the body schema is not only involved in motor execution, but also in tasks that only require a mental simulation of a movement such as motor imagery, mental rotation of bodies, and visuospatial perspective‐taking. The aim of the present study was to assess the ability of patients with anorexia to mentally simulate movements. Methods The sample included 52 patients with acute anorexia and 62 healthy controls. All participants completed three tests of explicit motor imagery, a mental rotation test and a test of visuospatial perspective‐taking. Results Patients with anorexia nervosa, with respect to controls, reported greater difficulties in imagining movements according to a first‐person perspective, lower accuracy in motor imagery, selective impairment in the mental rotation of human figures, and reduced ability in assuming a different egocentric visuospatial perspective. Conclusion These results are indicative of a specific alteration in motor imagery in patients with anorexia nervosa. Interestingly, patients' difficulties appear to be limited to those tasks which specifically rely on the body schema, while patients and controls performed similarly in the 3D objects mental rotation task.