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“Glass fairies” and “bone children”: Adolescents and young adults with anorexia nervosa show positive reactions towards extremely emaciated body pictures measured by the startle reflex paradigm
Author(s) -
Reichel Valeska A.,
Schneider Nora,
Grünewald Barbara,
Kienast Thorsten,
Pfeiffer Ernst,
Lehmkuhl Ulrike,
Korte Alexander
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12160
Subject(s) - psychology , anorexia nervosa , moro reflex , startle response , developmental psychology , audiology , reflex , anorexia , young adult , clinical psychology , eating disorders , neuroscience , medicine
In this study, we investigated the emotional processing of extremely emaciated body cues in adolescents and young adults with ( n = 36) and without ( n = 36) anorexia nervosa ( AN ), introducing a new picture type, which was taken from websites that promote extreme thinness and is targeted specifically at adolescents interested in extreme thinness. A startle reflex paradigm was used for implicit reactions, while a self‐assessment instrument was used for subjective responses. We found a significant group difference with a startle inhibition (appetitive response) among the patients and a startle potentiation (aversive response) among the controls, whereas no such difference for subjective measures was found. The results are in contrast to previous studies, which proposed a general failure to activate the appetitive motivational system in AN , but in keeping with findings from other addictions, where the same response pattern has been found. Implications for prevention and therapy are discussed.