Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with imagined defects in appearance. Optical illusions induce illusory effects that distort the presented stimulus, thus leading to ambiguous percepts. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we...
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MDPI AG
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/2/293 |
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| author | Anastasios E. Giannopoulos Ioanna Zioga Konstantinos Kontoangelos Panos Papageorgiou Fotini Kapsali Christos N. Capsalis Charalabos Papageorgiou |
| author_facet | Anastasios E. Giannopoulos Ioanna Zioga Konstantinos Kontoangelos Panos Papageorgiou Fotini Kapsali Christos N. Capsalis Charalabos Papageorgiou |
| author_sort | Anastasios E. Giannopoulos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with imagined defects in appearance. Optical illusions induce illusory effects that distort the presented stimulus, thus leading to ambiguous percepts. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated whether BDD is related to differentiated perception during illusory percepts. Methods: A total of 18 BDD patients and 18 controls were presented with 39 optical illusions together with a statement testing whether or not they perceived the illusion. After a delay period, they were prompted to answer whether the statement was right/wrong and their degree of confidence in their answer. We investigated differences of BDD patients on task performance and self-reported confidence and analyzed the brain oscillations during decision-making using nonparametric cluster statistics. Results: Behaviorally, the BDD group exhibited reduced confidence when responding incorrectly, potentially attributed to higher levels of doubt. Electrophysiologically, the BDD group showed significantly reduced alpha power at the fronto-central and parietal scalp areas, suggesting impaired allocation of attention. Interestingly, the lower the alpha power of the identified cluster, the higher the BDD severity, as assessed by BDD psychometrics. Conclusions: Results evidenced that alpha power during illusory processing might serve as a quantitative EEG biomarker of BDD, potentially associated with reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:27:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc592fee6f4245f092015a36d713a386 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:27:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc592fee6f4245f092015a36d713a3862023-11-23T19:04:38ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252022-02-0112229310.3390/brainsci12020293Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic DisorderAnastasios E. Giannopoulos0Ioanna Zioga1Konstantinos Kontoangelos2Panos Papageorgiou3Fotini Kapsali4Christos N. Capsalis5Charalabos Papageorgiou6School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, GreeceDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The NetherlandsFirst Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Eginition Hospital, 11528 Athens, GreeceDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26334 Patras, GreecePsychiatric Hospital of Attica, 16121 Athens, GreeceSchool of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, GreeceNeurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute “Costas Stefanis”, University Mental Health, 11527 Athens, GreeceBackground: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with imagined defects in appearance. Optical illusions induce illusory effects that distort the presented stimulus, thus leading to ambiguous percepts. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated whether BDD is related to differentiated perception during illusory percepts. Methods: A total of 18 BDD patients and 18 controls were presented with 39 optical illusions together with a statement testing whether or not they perceived the illusion. After a delay period, they were prompted to answer whether the statement was right/wrong and their degree of confidence in their answer. We investigated differences of BDD patients on task performance and self-reported confidence and analyzed the brain oscillations during decision-making using nonparametric cluster statistics. Results: Behaviorally, the BDD group exhibited reduced confidence when responding incorrectly, potentially attributed to higher levels of doubt. Electrophysiologically, the BDD group showed significantly reduced alpha power at the fronto-central and parietal scalp areas, suggesting impaired allocation of attention. Interestingly, the lower the alpha power of the identified cluster, the higher the BDD severity, as assessed by BDD psychometrics. Conclusions: Results evidenced that alpha power during illusory processing might serve as a quantitative EEG biomarker of BDD, potentially associated with reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant areas.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/2/293body dysmorphic disorderEEGoptical illusionsalpha oscillations |
| spellingShingle | Anastasios E. Giannopoulos Ioanna Zioga Konstantinos Kontoangelos Panos Papageorgiou Fotini Kapsali Christos N. Capsalis Charalabos Papageorgiou Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder Brain Sciences body dysmorphic disorder EEG optical illusions alpha oscillations |
| title | Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
| title_full | Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
| title_fullStr | Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
| title_short | Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder |
| title_sort | deciding on optical illusions reduced alpha power in body dysmorphic disorder |
| topic | body dysmorphic disorder EEG optical illusions alpha oscillations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/2/293 |
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