Altered estimation of body boundaries despite spared tactile acuity in adolescents with Restrictive Eating Disorder

Body perception disturbances represent a consistent predictor of onset, treatment outcome and chronicity in conditions such as Restrictive Eating Disorder (REDs). In adult patients diagnosed with REDs, overestimation of body weight and disregard for one’s body have been associated with altered tactile acuity and biases in proprioceptive localization, often correlated with symptom severity. It is however unknown whether this is also the case in adolescents with REDs, when the disorder has just emerged. This study aimed to characterize possible alterations in tactile and body perception in a sample of adolescent subjects diagnosed with REDs. Patients (N = 49) and age-matched controls (N = 45) were administered with tasks measuring tactile acuity and body landmark localization accuracy on the hand and abdomen. Furthermore, levels of body dissatisfaction were measured with clinical questionnaires. Our results indicate that the REDs group exhibited greater biases in the perception of the abdomen, whereas their biases in hand perception were similar to the healthy controls. We did not find differences in tactile processing between the RED and the control group. Also, the relation between perceptual bias, tactile acuity, self-reported body dissatisfaction was statistically not significant. Our results suggest that biases in body perception in REDs are already present in adolescence, but limited to salient body parts, such as the abdomen.