Do All Women Fear Being Fat?
Fat fear? A Bringham Young University (BYU) neuroscientist, a psychology professor, and a grad student were probably quite surprised at the completion of their research. What they found was not exactly what they expected…. The neuroscientist, Mark Allen, and the psychology professor, Diane Spangler, had collaborated on a long-term project to improve treatment for women with eating disorders by monitoring their progress with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They monitored the women’s brains in response to a variety of pictures. What they found was that the images of women who were overweight caused the women’s medial prefrontal cortex, the self-reflection center, to light up in a way that suggested disgust and self-loathing. Then, to establish a control group, the researchers conducted fMRIs on women that did not have eating disorders and who appeared, by their performance on psychological tests, to have no particular problems with body image. That’s what the psychologica
