We're not so handy at picturing our bodies

Scientists found that people have a highly distorted mental picture of their own hands, believing them to be wider and shorter than they actually are.

The discovery may have implications for conditions involving false body image, such as anorexia.

Researchers asked volunteers to place their left hand under a board and guess the positions of the knuckles and fingertips, pointing them out with a baton.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said participants estimated their hands to be about two-thirds wider and a third shorter than actual measurements showed they were.