Name of author: Emy Nimbley
Affiliation: University of Edinburgh
Email address: emy.nimbley@ed.ac.uk
Young adults between 16-25 years old, fluent in English and able to travel to the University of Edinburgh campus. Additionally, they must fall into any of the following five categories: (1) Autism only; (2) Autism and AN; (3) AN only (non-autistic); (4) Recovered AN (non-autistic); (5) Non-autistic with no current or lifetime history of AN.
We would like to investigate this possible relationship in autistic and non-autistic young adults with current or prior history of anorexia. We want to explore whether autistic and non-autistic young adults with anorexia process emotions and social cues in the same way or if there are differences. This includes things like the ability to recognise your own emotions and to identify emotions in other people. We are also interested in how this may link with people’s experience of body sensations (like hunger), and how they communicate with other people. We will also explore how autistic people communicate with other autistic people and compare this with how they communicate with non-autistic (‘neurotypical’) people. We hope that this study will help us identify some promising targets for future treatments for anorexia nervosa, including treatments for autistic individuals with anorexia nervosa.
The study completing an online survey before coming to the University of Edinburgh central campus and taking part in two tasks. The first task is a non-invasive eye tracking task, and the second is short communication task with a member of the research team. In total, the study will take no more than 2 hours.
Watch the recruitment video and/or read the study flyer carefully, and get in touch with emy.nimbley@ed.ac.uk if you are interested in taking part!