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Eating behavior disorders (EBD) constitute a serious somatic and psychiatric condition that occurs mainly in adolescent and young adult women and is characterized by a persistent desire to be extremely thin, pathologic fear of gaining weight and distortion of body perception. From a neurobiological vantage point, it has been suggested that alterations in some neural systems of these patients may exist, either as a cause or effect of their condition. In recent years various research studies have been conducted with the aim of identifying underlying brain disorders in EBD. The purpose of this article was to review the main findings obtained in neuroimaging studies, including PET, SPECT, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), focusing mainly on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Some alterations and changes in metabolism and blood perfusion that accompany the neuroimaging findings will be reviewed, as well as studies designed to determine whether these alterations persist after recovery from the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Since the arrival of neuroimaging numerous studies have tried to analyze the differences between emotional and non-emotional response. The majority of these studies use visual approach (faces) and begin with data in normal subjects. The present study introduces a new paradigm for the study of emotional response based on auditory approach and designed specifically for the study of psychoses. Method. The most frequent words heard by psychotic patients with auditory hallucinations were analyzed. They were classified according to five categories which were compared with 13 other words with the same structure but with a neutral emotional valency. This paradigm was applied to see the cerebral activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 10 right handed healthy males. Results. In the preliminary analysis a clear differentiation is observed depending on the type of stimulus applied (emotional or non-emotional), both in the intensity of activation (right and left temporal cortex) as in the activation of specific areas (right precentral and supramarginal gyrus) only with the emotional stimulus. Conclusions. The present paradigm allows the observation of a differentiation in the cerebral activation to emotional auditory stimulus and could be of utility in the study of psychotic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]