Neural hypersensitivity to pleasant touch in women remitted from anorexia nervosa.

ABSTRACT: Interoception, or the sensing and integration of bodily state signals, has been implicated in anorexia nervosa (AN), given that the hallmark symptoms involve food restriction and body image disturbance. Here we focus on brain response to the anticipation and experience of affective interoceptive stimuli. Women remitted from AN (RAN; N = 18) and healthy comparison women (CW; N = 26) underwent a pleasant affective touch paradigm consisting of gentle strokes with a soft brush administered to the forearm or palm during functional neuroimaging. RAN had a lower brain response relative to CW during anticipation of touch, but a greater response when experiencing touch in the right ventral mid-insula. In RAN, this reduced anticipatory response was associated with higher levels of harm avoidance. Ex

SUBMITTER: Bischoff-Grethe A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6095886 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature