Ricerc@Sapienza

Body dissatisfaction in individuals with Gender Incongruence (GI) represents a primary source of su↵ering. Several studies have highlighted how this su↵ering has psychological, physical, and biological implications. This work aims to explore experiences related to body dissatisfaction and investigate the issues associated with living in a body perceived as incongruent for individuals with GI. Thirty-six individuals, aged between 18 and 30 years old and at stage T0 of hormone treatment, participated in the study.

We investigated the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and personality traits, socioeconomic status (SES), and body image (BI) at the beginning of preadolescence. Data were collected from 238 Italian children aged 10–11 years using self-report scales. Information about SES was derived from parental education and professional status. BI was the variable the most strongly associated with BMI. Controlling for BI, SES, and gender, Agreeableness was inversely associated with BMI, whilst Extroversion was related to BMI in girls only.

The triadic taxonomy posits that three distinct types of body representations do exist, namely the body schema (BS), which corresponds to the representation derived from multiple sensory and motor inputs, the body structural representation (BSR), which corresponds to the structural description of spatial relations among the body parts, and the body semantics (SEM), which corresponds to the lexical-semantic representation of the body.

We constantly process top-down and bottom-up inputs concerning our own body that interact to form body representations (BR). Even if some evidence showed BR deficits in children with cerebral palsy, a systematic study that evaluates different kinds of BR in these children, taking into account the possible presence of a general deficit affecting non-body mental representations, is currently lacking.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) ischaracterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control over eating and associated with unpleasant feelings and marked distress (DSM-5, APA, 2013). BED is frequently associated to obesity (de Zwaan, 2001). Binge eating symptoms or behaviors (i.e. the experience of binge eating episodes without fulfilling BED criteria) are more common than the full syndrome (Siqueira ET AL., 2004; Spitzer et al., 1992).

The current COVID-19 pandemic has created a global context likely to increase eating disorder (ED) risk and symptoms, decrease factors that protect against EDs, and exacerbate barriers to care. Three pathways exist by which this pandemic may exacerbate ED risk. One, the disruptions to daily routines and constraints to outdoor activities may increase weight and shape concerns, and negatively impact eating, exercise, and sleeping patterns, which may in turn increase ED risk and symptoms.

Growing evidence indicates that perceptual-motor codes may be associated with and influenced by actual bodily states. Following a spinal cord injury (SCI), for example, individuals exhibit reduced visual sensitivity to biological motion. However, a dearth of direct evidence exists about whether profound alterations in sensorimotor traffic between the body and brain influence audio-motor representations. We tested 20 wheelchair-bound individuals with lower skeletal-level SCI who were unable to feel and move their lower limbs, but have retained upper limb function.

«Embodiment» is a term that highlights how our sense of the body is plastic and can be extended beyond the biological self to incorporate a salient tool. Theoretical bases are grounded in the widely discussed concepts of embodiment, tool use, and body representation. To support these claims, we will first explore highlight a pathway in the confusing scenario of the consequences of dynamic bodily representations. The primary interest is to explore the potentialities of embodiment, and to assess human experiences that can be directly measured concerning partial or complete bodily illusions.

Attitudes toward the different aspects of body image play relevant role in “maniacal obsession” about healthy and proper food among female and male students.