Interoceptive awareness and beliefs about health and the body as predictors of the intensity of emotions experienced at the beginning of the pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic is a type of stressful event which might have an impact on psychological state. A prolonged threat of getting a serious, contagious illness is expected to be associated with an increase of negative emotions and, conversely, with a decrease of positive emotions. As the stressor is strongly linked to health and the body, we decided to investigate what types of factors related to body perception and appraisal are associated with different types of reported emotions. The purpose of the study was to verify the associations between three types of variables: interoceptive awareness as described by Mehling and colleagues (2012a, 2018), negative beliefs about health and body, and different types of emotions. Methodology A Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire was applied to evaluate interoceptive awareness. The declared emotional state was diagnosed with a list of 20 emotions–divided by valence and origin. Additionally, a list of 10 negative beliefs about health and body was used. The study was held in a correlational schema with 299 subjects recruited via the social media platform Facebook who took part in an online survey. Results The study revealed that the scales of Self-Regulation and Trusting are primarily associated with negative automatic and reflective emotions and positive automatic emotions. Furthermore, the Self-Regulation, Trusting dimensions of interoceptive awareness predict an intensity of emotions categorised on the basis of valence and origin. In addition, negative beliefs about health and the body provided an adequate explanation of the variance of most of the types of emotions experienced during the pandemic. Conclusions Factors related to body perception, such as interoceptive awareness and negative beliefs about health and body provide a significant contribution to explaining emotional state at the beginning of the pandemic.

Perceptions of the Body and Body Dissatisfaction in Primary Education Children According to Gender and Age. A Cross-Sectional Study

Body image (BI) is a trending topic of study since health problems derived from a negative perception of the body are increasing and affecting people of all ages, with an increasing incidence among children from the age of eight. The objective of this study was to evaluate the current perception of the body against the desired body and the degree of body satisfaction of Galician primary education students. A total of 355 students (167 boys (47%)) between 9 and 12 years old participated (mean = 10.53; SD = 0.84). Sociodemographic data (sex, age, height, and weight) were collected, and the Figure Rating Scale was used. There are statistically significant differences between boys and girls in the current perceived figure (p = 0.003) and in the desired figure (p < 0.001). Depending on age, the differences were in current (p = 0.010) and desired (p = 0.021) body perception. In conclusion, boys perceive themselves as having a larger figure than girls do, but this perception is far from reality according to the body mass index. For the desired figure, both boys and girls want to be slimmer, but girls want a slimmer figure. Regarding age, the current perceived figure size increases with age as it increases in those students dissatisfied with their body.

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Body Perception of the Actor in Theatre Performance

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed our perception of our own bodies and, implicitly, of the bodies of those around us. One’s body becomes a potential source of disease and needs to be protected, permanently isolated from the others and hidden behind different kinds of personal protection equipment. The aim of this study is to review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our interactions with others and to outline the ways in which theatre can fight changes in body perception and social interaction. Another person’s body is perceived as a source of danger which needs to be pushed as far away as possible and must be put under intense scrutiny. In this context, theatre becomes an instrument that contributes to the healing of these ruptures, forcing spectators to have a kind of kinestezic empathy with the actor. Moreover, unlike other public spaces, theatre forces us to engage with those around us and with those on stage. Theatre forces us to watch and connect with the bodies on stage that act independently from our fears, outside of our own corporality. Through this and some other means, theatre can determine its spectators to reconsider and reconstruct their relationships with their own bodies and with the bodies of those around.

Impact of Face Masks on Female Body Perception is Modulated by Facial Expressions

People routinely wear face masks during the pandemic, but little is known about their impact on body perception. In this online study, we presented female body images of Caucasian avatars in common dress sizes displaying happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions with and without face masks, and asked women to rate the perceived body attractiveness and body size. In comparison with mask-off condition, mask-on decreased body attractiveness ratings for happy avatars but did not affect ratings for neutral avatars irrespective of avatar dress sizes. For avatars displaying angry expressions, mask-on increased body attractiveness ratings for slimmer avatars but did not affect ratings for larger avatars. On the other hand, body size estimation was not systematically affected by face masks and facial expressions. It appears that face masks mainly show an expression-dependent influence on body attractiveness judgement, possibly through suppressing the perceived facial expressions.

Self-perceived Body Image in Relation to Mental Health of South Korean Adolescents

My study is designed to investigate the differences in self-perceived body image in terms of gender and school year, as well as mental health state based on self-perceived body image. For this, I utilized data from the 15th Korean Youth Health Behavior Online Survey (2019), conducted by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The main questions that I address are whether there is a difference of self-body perception between male and female adolescents, whether there is a difference of self-body perception based on school year, and whether there is a difference of mental health state in terms of self-perceived body image. In terms of self-perceived body image differences between gender, it was the case that more girls categorized themselves as fat than boys. In terms of self-perceived body image differences by school year, older students were more likely to categorize themselves as fat. For differences in mental health issues by self-perceived body image, students who categorized themselves as fat ranked the highest percentages in all mental health problems. Based on these findings, I discussed some implications and limitations as well as suggestions for further research.

Similarities and differences of face and body perception in the dog (Canis familiaris) and human brain

Accurately recognizing other individuals is fundamental for successful social interactions. While the neural underpinnings of this skill have been studied extensively in humans, less is known about the evolutionary origins of the brain areas specialized for recognising faces or bodies. Studying dogs (Canis familiaris), a non-primate species with the ability to perceive faces and bodies similarly to humans, promises insights into how visuo-social perception has evolved in mammals. We investigated the neural correlates of face and body perception in dogs (N = 15) and humans (N = 40) using functional MRI. Combining uni- and multivariate analysis approaches, we identified activation levels and patterns that suggested potentially homologous occipito-temporal brain regions in both species responding to faces and bodies compared to inanimate objects. Crucially, only human brain regions showed activation differences between faces and bodies and partly responded more strongly to humans compared to dogs. Moreover, only dogs represented both faces and dog bodies in olfactory regions. Overall, these findings advance our understanding of the similarities and differences in brain function between two phylogenetically distant mammal species. This likely reflects differences in the perceptual systems these species rely on to recognize others, and provides important insights into the foundations of social cognition and behaviour.