scholarly journals Visual Self-Misperception in Eating Disorders

Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 030100662110568
Author(s):  
Stephen Gadsby
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Behavioural Evidence

Many who suffer from eating disorders claim that they see themselves as “fat”. Despite decades of research into the phenomenon, behavioural evidence has failed to confirm that eating disorders involve visual misperception of own-body size. I illustrate the importance of this phenomenon for our understanding of perceptual processing, outline the challenges involved in experimentally confirming it, and provide solutions to those challenges.

scholarly journals Visual Self-Misperception in Eating Disorders

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Gadsby
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Behavioural Evidence

Many who suffer from eating disorders claim that they see themselves as “fat”. Despite decades of research into the phenomenon, behavioural evidence has failed to confirm that eating disorders involve visual misperception of own-body size. I illustrate the importance of this phenomenon for our understanding of perceptual processing, outline the challenges involved in experimentally confirming it, and provide solutions to those challenges.

A Psychophysiologically Controlled Exposure Treatment of Severe Body Image Distortion in Eating Disorders

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Pérez Sales ◽  
Rosa Calvo Sagardoy ◽  
Teresa Ferrer Gila
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Exposure Treatment ◽  
Body Image Disorders ◽  
Controlled Exposure ◽  
Body Size Estimation ◽  
Image Problems

Although body image problems are a major prognostic factor in the course of eating disorders, its treatment has received little attention in the research literature. We present two psychophysiologically controlled cases of intensive exposure treatment with conflicting outcomes. Pre-post treatment assessments included measurements of body size estimation, body related avoidant attitudes and body dissatisfaction. In case 1, although dissatisfaction and avoidant attitudes decreased, body size overestimation remained basically unchanged. Case 2 did not improve. Psychophysiological recordings showed a covert avoidance of treatment stimuli. We discuss the pros and the cons of the treatment, and the implications for the use of exposure therapy in body image disorders.

Societal Influences on a Thinner Body Size in Children

1992 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenifer Davis ◽  
Robert Oswalt
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Significant Trend ◽  
Third Grade ◽  
Scale Analysis ◽  
Societal Influences

This study was designed to examine whether educational textbook illustrations portray children thinner since the turn of the century. 50 undergraduates each rated 54 third-grade text pictures (3 of boys and 3 of girls in each decade since 1900) on a thinness scale. Analysis indicated a significant trend in thinness for girls but not for boys. Concerns are raised about a connection between educational illustrations of children and eating disorders.

Clinical Correlates of Body-Size Distortion

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1311-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés J. Pumariega ◽  
Carl R. Gustavson ◽  
Joan C. Gustavson ◽  
Sandra A. Black ◽  
Andrew R. Gustavson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Eating Attitudes ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Size Distortion ◽  
Eating Disordered ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Body Size Estimation

Body-size distortion has been considered a central symptom of eating disorders. We studied 35 female eating-disordered patients and 85 controls using a computer-based body-size estimation technique. We have found almost identical linear relationships between body-size distortion and weight:height ratios in both groups. In the clinical group, distortion scores were not correlated with scores on the Eating Attitudes Test or Beck Depression Inventory but were negatively correlated with body dissatisfaction as measured on the Eating Disorder Inventory. These results raise further questions about the role of body-size distortion both as a diagnostic criterion and as a complicating phenomenon in eating disorders.

Body-Size Estimation in Eating Disorders Using Video Distortion on a Lif e-Size Screen

1997 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Probst ◽  
Walter Vandereycken ◽  
Herman van Coppenolle
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Body Size Estimation

Factors Related to Depression and Eating Disorders: Self-Esteem, Body Image, and Attractiveness

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 1003-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry J. Grubb ◽  
Marie I. Sellers ◽  
Karen Waligroski
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Beck Depression Inventory ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
College Undergraduate ◽  
Eating Disorders Inventory

To test hypotheses that women suffering from some form of eating disorder would experience lower self-esteem and higher depression and that women with lower self-esteem and greater depression would rate their attractiveness lower and see themselves as heavier than less depressed individuals, 42 college undergraduate women were individually administered the Eating Disorders Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, and a Body Image/Attractiveness Perception Scale. A Pearson correlation indicated a substantial relation between scores on depression and scores on eating disorders, but nonsignificant values between self-esteem scores and scores on either eating disorders or on depression. Depression scores correlated significantly with rated body size, but not attractiveness, while self-esteem scores were significantly correlated with rated attractiveness, not body size. These results contradict literature on the relation between self-esteem and depression. Directions for additional research are discussed.

Comparison of body size estimation in adolescents with different types of eating disorders

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 468-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Schneider ◽  
Katja Frieler ◽  
Ernst Pfeiffer ◽  
Ulrike Lehmkuhl ◽  
Harriet Salbach-Andrae
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Body Size Estimation

scholarly journals Beyond BMI for self-estimates of body size and shape: A new method for developing stimuli correctly calibrated for body composition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Maalin ◽  
Sophie Mohamed ◽  
Robin S. S. Kramer ◽  
Piers L. Cornelissen ◽  
Daniel Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Composition ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Shape And Size

Abstract Accurate self-assessment of body shape and size plays a key role in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both obesity and eating disorders. These chronic conditions cause significant health problems, reduced quality of life, and represent a major problem for health services. Variation in body shape depends on two aspects of composition: adiposity and muscularity. However, most self-assessment tools are unidimensional. They depict variation in adiposity only, typically quantified by the body mass index. This can lead to substantial, and clinically meaningful, errors in estimates of body shape and size. To solve this problem, we detail a method of creating biometrically valid body stimuli. We obtained high-resolution 3D body shape scans and composition measures from 397 volunteers (aged 18–45 years) and produced a statistical mapping between the two. This allowed us to create 3D computer-generated models of bodies, correctly calibrated for body composition (i.e., muscularity and adiposity). We show how these stimuli, whose shape changes are based on change in composition in two dimensions, can be used to match the body size and shape participants believe themselves to have, to the stimulus they see. We also show how multivariate multiple regression can be used to model shape change predicted by these 2D outcomes, so that participants’ choices can be explained by their measured body composition together with other psychometric variables. Together, this approach should substantially improve the accuracy and precision with which self-assessments of body size and shape can be made in obese individuals and those suffering from eating disorders.

scholarly journals Effects of exposure to bodies of different sizes on perception of and satisfaction with own body size: two randomized studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 171387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Bould ◽  
Rebecca Carnegie ◽  
Heather Allward ◽  
Emily Bacon ◽  
Emily Lambe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Dissatisfaction ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
High Baseline ◽  
Normal Body ◽  
The Media ◽  
Back Task

Body dissatisfaction is prevalent among women and associated with subsequent obesity and eating disorders. Exposure to images of bodies of different sizes has been suggested to change the perception of ‘normal’ body size in others. We tested whether exposure to different-sized (otherwise identical) bodies changes perception of own and others' body size, satisfaction with body size and amount of chocolate consumed. In Study 1, 90 18–25-year-old women with normal BMI were randomized into one of three groups to complete a 15 min two-back task using photographs of women either of ‘normal weight’ (Body Mass Index (BMI) 22–23 kg m −2 ), or altered to appear either under- or over-weight. Study 2 was identical except the 96 participants had high baseline body dissatisfaction and were followed up after 24 h. We also conducted a mega-analysis combining both studies. Participants rated size of others' bodies, own size, and satisfaction with size pre- and post-task. Post-task ratings were compared between groups, adjusting for pre-task ratings. Participants exposed to over- or normal-weight images subsequently perceived others' bodies as smaller, in comparison to those shown underweight bodies ( p  < 0.001). They also perceived their own bodies as smaller (Study 1, p  = 0.073; Study 2, p  = 0.018; mega-analysis, p  = 0.001), and felt more satisfied with their size (Study 1, p  = 0.046; Study 2, p  = 0.004; mega-analysis, p  = 0.006). There were no differences in chocolate consumption. This study suggests that a move towards using images of women with a BMI in the healthy range in the media may help to reduce body dissatisfaction, and the associated risk of eating disorders.

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