This study seeks to understand the role of social and emotional processing in anorexia nervosa. Based on personal stories by people with lived experience of anorexia nervosa, the researchers have developed a set of new tasks assessing behavioural and brain responses associated with different aspects of social-emotional processing. This study looks to assess the usefulness and utility of these tasks in terms of predicting illness severity and outcome.
Seeking right handed women aged 18 – 25 who have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.
The study involves completing a screening phone call to ensure you are eligible to take part and an experimental visit to King’s College London. During the experimental visit you will be asked to complete questionnaires, two computerised tasks assessing social cognition, and undergo an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. During the MRI scan you will be asked to complete two other tasks assessing different aspects of social cognition, which will enable us to study brain activation during the tasks. The experimental visit will take approximately 2 – 2.5 hours.
After completing the experimental visit you will be reimbursed £40.
Please note: participation in this study means that we will take your height and weight measurements during the experimental session. You will also be asked some questions about your lowest ever and highest ever BMI as well as about your current height and weight, however you will not have to answer these questions. Additionally, you will be asked to complete computerised tasks in and outside of the MRI scanner, which depict emotional scenarios.
If you are interested please contact Dr Jenni Leppanen (jenni.leppanen@kcl.ac.uk).