title: Altered social attention in anorexia nervosa during real social interaction.
abstract: The capacity to devote attentional resources in response to body-related signals provided by others is still largely unexplored in individuals with Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Here, we tested this capacity through a novel paradigm that mimics a social interaction with a real partner. Healthy individuals (Experiment 1) and individuals with AN (Experiment 2) completed a task with another person which consisted in performing, alternatively, rapid aiming movements to lateralised targets. Generally, this task leads to a form of Inhibition of Return (IOR), which consists of longer reaction times when an individual has to respond to a location previously searched by either himself (individual IOR) or by the partner (social IOR) as compared to previously unexplored locations. IOR is considered as an important attentional mechanism that promotes an effective exploration of the environment during social interaction. Here, healthy individuals displayed both individual and social IOR that were both reliable and of the same magnitude. Individuals with AN displayed a non-significant individual IOR but a reliable social IOR that was also significantly stronger than individual IOR. These results suggest the presence of a reduced sensitivity in processing body-related stimuli conveyed by oneself in individuals with AN which is reflected in action-based attentional processes.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dalmaso
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.|Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Castelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scatturin
authors.affiliation: Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carli
authors.affiliation: Centro per i Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugnano, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Todisco
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Italy.|Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palomba
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università di Padova, Italy.|Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galfano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult