THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN BODY-IMAGE, BODY SCHEME AND SOMATOSENSATION

The authors first discuss possible interactions between the hitherto n eglected neurophysiological and neuropsychological factors and the tra ditionally accepted cognitive and affective factors in 'body image' fo rmation. They then report on a study of the relation between body size perception (video distortion technique, image marking procedure, kina esthetic size estimation apparatus) and somato-sensation (thermal, pai n and vibration thresholds) in young women. Included in the study were questionnaires on eating behaviour and motivation, body attitude or b ody satisfaction, and depressive mood and thoughts. Neither the somato sensory nor the questionnaire variables explained the difference betwe en 'overestimators' and 'underestimators' of body size. However, these variables did explain the difference between 'good perceivers' and 'p oor perceivers' (degree of deviation from actual body size) in the vid eo distortion technique, with a somewhat larger contribution by the so matosensory variables. The latter finding, although clearly preliminar y, should stimulate further investigations of the relationship between somatosensory variables and body size perception.