Neuronal activity changes and body image distortion in anorexia nervosa

Body image distortion is a major and often persistent symptom in anorexia nervosa. During a functional imaging investigation we confronted female anorectic patients and healthy controls with their own digitally distorted body images using a computer-based video-technique. Our findings indicate activation of the attention network as well as of structures involved in visuo-spatial processing and self-reflection in both groups. Anorectic patients showed a greater activation in the prefrontal cortex (BA 9) and the inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), including the anterior intraparietal sulcus, than did controls. However, an analysis of the BOLD-response in the IPL area revealed that anorectic patients showed only a specific increase in activation to their own pictures than to others indicating different visuo-spatial processing, while controls did not differentiate.