NCT02538796

The Embodied Cognition: Exploratory Study of Automatic and Controlled Processes in Anorexia Nervosa.

The Embodied Cognition: Exploratory Study of Automatic and Controlled Processes in Anorexia Nervosa. A Monocentric Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 176 (actual)
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 36 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a common psychiatric illness, with severe prognosis (5% mortality) that has changed little over in half a century. One of the forms is the restrictive anorexia nervosa (ANR). It consists of a phobia of weight gain and food with a massive food restriction. This pathology is studied in psychology but not using the theories of embodied cognition in which "perception and action" interact through sensorimotor processes. They are the source of attitudes (unconscious) towards certain stimuli and influence our interpretation (conscious).

Detailed description

The investigators hypothesis is that food restriction behavior is the result of two processes. One automatic and not conscious, which is an attraction toward food and manifests itself in the motivational attitudes of approach, and the other controlled and conscious, which prevents attraction to this type of stimuli and is manifested by motivational attitudes avoidance. These processes of attraction and avoidance are observed in embodied cognition paradigms because the answers induce movement of approach or avoidance of stimuli. The validation of these assumptions could lead to reconsideration of the respective roles of automatic and controlled processes in food behaviors of anorexics patients and to complete or refocus psychological techniques of care.

Conditions

• Anorexia Nervosa

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	TEA + Grober Test + Task 1 + Grober Test	The Test of Everyday Attention (TEA) measures the reaction time of the participant during the occurrence of an expected stimulus. The Grober Test with 16 words to learn and to remember, measures the episodic verbal memory long term. The Task 1 consists of a stimulus that moves on the screen. The response of the patient is done on the keyboard. It is composed on two conditions: one is fast (without conscious), the other consists in assessing words (conscious). It includes food and non-food words.
OTHER	TEA + Grober Test + Task 2 + Grober Test	The TEA measures the reaction time of the participant during the occurrence of an expected stimulus. The Grober Test with 16 words to learn and to remember, measures the episodic verbal memory long term. The Task 2 consists of a stimulus that is fixed on the screen. The response of the patient is done by pushing or pulling a lever. It is composed on two conditions: one is fast (without conscious), the other consists in assessing words (conscious). It includes food and non-food words.
OTHER	TEA + Grober Test + Implicit Task 3 + Grober Test	The TEA measures the reaction time of the participant during the occurrence of an expected stimulus. The Grober Test with 16 words to learn and to remember, measures the episodic verbal memory long term. The Task 3 is a compilation of tasks 1 and 2 to investigate the bidirectional link. The instructions are implicit condition to detect an A in the word ("yes-no" answer).
OTHER	TEA + Grober Test + Explicit Task 3 + Grober Test	The TEA measures the reaction time of the participant during the occurrence of an expected stimulus. The Grober Test with 16 words to learn and to remember, measures the episodic verbal memory long term. The Task 3 is a compilation of tasks 1 and 2 to investigate the bidirectional link. The instructions are explicit condition to judge the emotional value of words ("positive-negative" answer).

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-05-01
• Primary completion: 2016-01-01
• Completion: 2016-01-01
• First posted: 2015-09-02
• Last updated: 2016-03-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France