Grant: Project Grant

Body image distortion is a core symptom of severe and often life-threatening mental illnesses such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. However, how the brain creates an internal body image and how it can become distorted remains largely unknown. Thus, it is critically necessary to identify and measure factors that contribute to an inaccurate internal body image. This will also assist in finding markers of clinically significant abnormalities in body image. Acquiring this knowledge will advance the field in clinical assessment and early detection, measuring treatment effects, and understanding neurobiological and behavioural mechanisms to develop new and effective treatments. The goal of this study is to develop an understanding of how the brain creates an accurate or inaccurate internal body image in individuals with and without body image disorders. Specifically, we will determine the relative contributions of specific neural, behavioural, and emotional factors to body size estimation errors, and how these factors are integrated. One part of the study will consist of online tasks in a large general population sample of adults to characterize how body size estimation varies and how it is related to body dysmorphic and eating disorder symptoms and appearance satisfaction. In the other part of the study we will test healthy controls, participants with body dysmorphic disorder, and participants with anorexia nervosa in the laboratory. In both the online and laboratory samples, we will measure the accuracy of internalized body representation using Somatomap 3D (a visually based digital avatar tool). In the laboratory sample we will do brain imaging to determine brain structure and function, and will measure eye movements and emotional states during a body size estimation task. This study promises to provide valuable information to help develop novel and targeted behavioral, perceptual, and/or brain stimulation treatments to address body image distortions.