Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden.
Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 58185 Linköping, Sweden; Department of Psychiatry in Linköping and Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden.
Neuroimage Clin. 2022;36:103264. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103264. Epub 2022 Nov 12.
The tactile sense plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of a functional bodily self. The ability to differentiate between self- and nonself-generated touch contributes to the perception of the bodies' boundaries and more generally to self-other-distinction, both of which are thought be altered in anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum condition (AS). While it has been suggested that AN and AS are characterized by overlapping symptomatology, they might differ regarding body perception and self-other-distinction.
Participants with a diagnosis of AN (n = 25), AS (n = 29), and a comparison group without diagnoses (n = 57) performed a self-other-touch task during functional brain imaging. In the experimental conditions, they stroked their own arm or were stroked on the arm by an experimenter.
As shown previously, the CG group showed lower activation or deactivation in response to self-touch compared to social touch from someone else. A main group effect was found in areas including somatosensory cortex, frontal and temporal gyri, insula, and subcortical regions. This was driven by increased activations in participants with AN, while participants in the AS group showed mostly comparable activations to the comparison group.
AN diagnosis was associated with an increased neural activity in response to both self-touch and social touch. Failure to attenuate self-touch might relate to altered predictions regarding the own body and reduced perception of bodily boundaries. Participants with an AS diagnosis were mostly comparable to the comparison group, potentially indicating unaltered tactile self-other-distinction.
触觉在功能性身体自我的发展和维持中起着至关重要的作用。区分自我和非自我产生的触觉的能力有助于感知身体的边界，更广泛地说，有助于区分自我和他人，这两者都被认为在神经性厌食症（AN）和自闭症谱系障碍（AS）中发生了改变。虽然有人认为 AN 和 AS 的症状存在重叠，但它们在身体感知和自我-他人区分方面可能存在差异。
患有 AN（n=25）、AS（n=29）和无诊断的对照组（n=57）的参与者在功能脑成像期间进行了自我-他人触摸任务。在实验条件下，他们会自己抚摸自己的手臂，或者被实验者抚摸手臂。
如前所述，与来自他人的社交触摸相比，CG 组在自我触摸时表现出较低的激活或失活。在包括体感皮层、额颞叶、脑岛和皮质下区域在内的多个区域中发现了主要的组间效应。这是由 AN 患者的激活增加驱动的，而 AS 组的参与者的激活大多与对照组相当。
AN 诊断与自我触摸和社交触摸的反应中增加的神经活动有关。未能减弱自我触摸可能与对自身身体的预测改变和身体边界感知减少有关。AS 诊断的参与者与对照组大多相当，这可能表明触觉自我-他人区分未改变。
