Do I look big in these genes?

Abstract

A review in this journal (Smeets, 1997) suggested that the decline in research interest in body image disturbance in anorexia nervosa could be addressed by making use of research in the cognitive neurosciences. Phantoms in the Brain: Human Nature and the Architecture of the Mind (Ramachandran and Blakeslee, 1998) reviews this area and proposes ideas which might be relevant.From his work on phantom limbs Ramachandran concludes that the image a person holds of his or her own body is itself a phantom constructed by the brain for its convenience. He says that it can be profoundly altered very easily. To illustrate this he describes three simple experiments the reader can perform at home. I've tried them, they work! The perception that an unoccupied glove on a table in front of you is your hand is a very strange experience. It might be possible to use similar experiments in work on body image with anorexics.Later he describes another rather bizarre experiment used on someone with anosognosiaÐthe belief that a paralysed limb is working normally. Squirt cold water into the left ear of a person with this syndrome and they may suddenly become aware that the limb in paralysed, although this awareness lasts only hours. (It does have an explanation.) He suggests trying this procedure on someone with anorexia to see if it has any effect on her distorted body image. Has anyone tried it yet?Ramachandran also explores the idea that aspects of human psychology and behaviour can be better understood by viewing them as having been shaped by natural selection: the new discipline of evolutionary psychology. He avoids the polarized views that many people tend to adopt of this discipline, where it is either described as genetic determinism and dismissed entirely or used to explain every aspect of human behaviour. As an illustration of the latter pole he wrote a paper`Why do gentlemen prefer blondes?' (Ramachandran, 1997). This was intended to wind up his colleagues in the ®eld, but was published and taken seriously by some. However, he gives an interesting and plausible evolutionary explanation for the origin of laughter.