Abnormal sense of agency in eating disorders

Livia Colle, Dize Hilviu, Monica Boggio, Alessandra Toso, Paola Longo, Giovanni Abbate-Daga, Francesca Garbarini, Carlotta Fossataro, Livia Colle, Dize Hilviu, Monica Boggio, Alessandra Toso, Paola Longo, Giovanni Abbate-Daga, Francesca Garbarini, Carlotta Fossataro

Abstract

The feeling of controlling one's own actions and, through them, impacting the external environment (i.e. Sense of Agency-SoA) can be relevant in the eating disorders (EDs) symptomatology. Yet, it has been poorly investigated. This study aims to implicitly assess SoA exploiting the Sensory Attenuation paradigm in two groups of EDs patients (Anorexia Nervosa Restrictive and Anorexia Nervosa Binge-Purging or Bulimia Nervosa) compared to a control group. We find that controls perceive self-generated stimuli as less intense than other-generated ones showing the classic pattern of sensory attenuation. By contrast, EDs patients show the opposite pattern, with self-generated perceived as more intense than other-generated stimuli. This result indicates an alteration of the implicit component of the feeling of control in EDs patients, thus suggesting a potential implication of these results for the clinical practice and the treatment of EDs symptomatology.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental setting representation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sensory attenuation results. The figure represents the significant Group by Condition interaction. For each group (Controls in blue, AN-R in green, and AN-BP/BN in pink) the empty histograms represent the other-generated condition while the dotted ones represent the self-generated condition. Error bars indicate sem. Asterisk indicates the significant comparison (*p 

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