Temporomesial activation in young females associated with unpleasant words concerning body image.
Previous behavioral studies suggest that people who have an abnormal eating behavior may perceive information concerning body image distortion more aversively than others. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on 15 young women, using an emotional decision task including unpleasant words concerning body image and neutral words. The left amygdala and right parahippocampal gyrus were activated by unpleasant words concerning body image relative to neutral words. In addition, activation of the right parahippocampal gyrus was negatively correlated with the severity of psychological and behavioral problems assessed by the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. This activation also positively correlated with the subjects' rating of pleasantness of words concerning body image. These results demonstrated that the temporomesial area plays an important role in the perception of unpleasant words concerning body image. In particular, it is suggested that the right parahippocampal gyrus may be associated with subjective sensitivity to unpleasant information concerning body image.
Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Naoko
N
Shirao
Yasumasa
Y
Okamoto
Go
G
Okada
Yuri
Y
Okamoto
Shigeto
S
Yamawaki
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary