Over-estimation of body size, a core feature of eating disorders (EDs), has been well-documented both in young healthy and ED individuals. Yet, evidence that altered body perception might also affect older women is limited. Here, we examined whether attitudinal components of body image (i.e. the feelings an individual has about their body size and shape) might affect perceived actual and ideal body shape self-estimates in midlife, similarly to younger women. Thirty-two younger (mean age, 24.22 years) and 33 middle-aged (mean age, 53.79 years) women took part to a computerized body perception assessment of perceived, actual and ideal aspects of body image. Body mass index (BMI), societal and interpersonal aspects of appearance ideals, measured by means of Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-4), and assessment of body uneasiness and concerns for specific body parts, measured by Body Uneasiness Test (BUT-A/B) scales, were also investigated. Younger and middle-aged women with larger BMI showed greater discrepancy in perceptual distortions from their perceived actual body size. However, middle-aged women with greater body part concerns overestimated their perceived body size, as opposed to younger women who were almost accurate. Unlike middle-aged women, younger women with higher body part concerns desired slimmer ideal body image than their perceived actual. Results suggest that distortions in the perceived actual and ideal body size selfestimates of younger and middle-aged women are best explained by a combination of BMI, body part concerns and the particular age group to which a participant belonged. In the future, a personalized approach for the assessment of women's perceptions and concerns of specific body areas during lifespan should be adopted.

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating pathology characterized by restricted eating, body image distortions and impaired socio-cognitive abilities. Altered responses to affective touch—a pleasant interoceptive stimulus hypothesised to involve activation of the C-Tactile (CT) system, may contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of this disorder. Here, we investigated whether third-party social touch vicarious ratings of different body sites at CT-optimal vs. non-CT optimal velocities differed in women with and recovered from AN (RAN) and healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-five HCs, 27 AN and 29 RAN provided pleasantness ratings for two different tasks designed to probe expectations of how touch is perceived by self (self-directed touch) vs. others (other-directed touch). Findings revealed that both clinical groups, compared to HCs, did not differ in their pleasantness ratings to touch for another but when evaluating touch for self, both clinical groups rated CT-optimal touch as less pleasant than HCs. These findings suggest that AN and RAN women demonstrate an atypical vicarious pleasantness response to affective touch involving self, but not others. Novel therapeutic approaches that help anorexics to better interpret or improve tolerance of affective tactile experiences involving the self may be an important addition to current standard treatments.

No abstract

Despite the fact that ageing causes dramatic changes in bodily appearance, little is known about how self-body recognition changes across life span. Here, we investigated whether older, compared to younger women, differed in the ability of recognising their own than other women’s body parts and whether this effect was associated to negative body image dispositions. Twenty-eight young (Mage: 25.93 years, SDage = 4.74) and 25 middle-aged (Mage: 54.36 years, SDage = 4.54) women completed an implicit task consisting of visual matching of self and others’ body parts and an explicit self–other body discrimination task. Stimuli comprised of images of body parts of the participant and of other age- and BMI-matched models, which were presented in the original size or modified to look rounder or thinner. Measures of adiposity (i.e. BMI), body image concerns and appearance-related worries for specific body parts and for the whole body were also collected. Whilst both groups showed a self-body advantage in the implicit, but not in the explicit task, the advantage was notably bigger for the younger group. However, the implicit self-advantage was higher in those middle-aged women that displayed more body image concerns and worries for specific body parts. Furthermore, the two groups were comparably less able in recognising their body parts when presented thinner as compared to rounder or in their actual size. Overall, these findings open the possibility that, as women age, their implicit self-recognition abilities may decline in association with more negative body image dispositions.

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating pathology characterized by restricted eating, body image distortions and impaired socio-cognitive abilities. Altered responses to affective touch − a pleasant interoceptive stimulus hypothesised to involve activation of the C-Tactile (CT) system, may contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of this disorder. Here, we investigated whether third-party social touch vicarious ratings of different body sites at CT-optimal vs. non-CT optimal velocities differed in women with and recovered from AN (RAN) and healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-five HCs, 27 AN and 29 RAN provided pleasantness ratings for two different tasks designed to probe expectations of how touch is perceived by self (self-directed touch) vs. others (other-directed touch). Findings revealed that both clinical groups, compared to HCs, did not differ in their pleasantness ratings to touch for another but when evaluating touch for self, both clinical groups rated CT-optimal touch as less pleasant than HCs. These findings suggest that AN and RAN women demonstrate an atypical vicarious pleasantness response to affective touch involving self, but not others. Therefore, as atypical responses persist even after recovery, treatment interventions should focus on overcoming an impairment in differentiating between self and other affective touch experience, which could help prevent post-recovery relapsing.