Haptic perception in anorexia nervosa before and after weight gain

Haptic perception of patients with anorexia nervosa (n=10) was analyzed in a longitudinal study (T-0-T-1). The haptic explorations consisted of palpating the structure of 12 sunken reliefs in sequence with both hands, eyes closed. After each exploration the structure was reproduced on a piece of paper. In the anorexia group, mean exploration time was significantly shorter than in healthy control subjects. However, the reproductions of complex stimuli submitted by the anorexia group were of notably poorer quality than those of the healthy controls. This was also observed after weight gain (T-1). The results of the haptic explorations can be interpreted as a cortical dysfunction and deficits in somatosensorical integration processing in patients with anorexia nervosa. This may be due to a disorder of tactual-spatial processing in the right parieto-occipital regions.