Abstract
Background
While the presence of cognitive biases among body dissatisfied individuals is supported by the literature, the nuances of these biases have yet to be fully explored. The current study examined attentional processing of body-related stimuli as a function of body dissatisfaction using eye-tracking methodology and a modified spatial cueing paradigm to evaluate early and late stage processing patterns.
Methods
Undergraduate women (N = 197) completed a decision-making task involving thin, fat, and control body images while eye gaze was recorded.
Results
Reaction time analysis did not reveal a relationship between body dissatisfaction and disengagement difficulty from thin or fat body images when compared to control body images. However, analysis of eye gaze patterns revealed a relationship between body dissatisfaction and difficulty shifting visual attention away from thin body images.
Conclusions
The findings provide partial support for an attentional bias for thin body images in body dissatisfied individuals. Moreover, the results provide further evidence for eye-tracking methodology as a more sensitive measure of cognitive biases than reaction time. Further examination of the relationship between cognitive biases and body dissatisfaction remains an important area of study as both are risk factors for eating disorders and can inform treatment interventions.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Yun-Han and Yun-Lin Wang for their translation of the Negative Physical Self Scale; Elizabeth Dunlop, Oluwatosin Etuhoko, Navneet Gill, Brittany Hunt, May Ly, and Kristen Peers for their help during data collection.
Funding
The first author is supported by a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (CGSM) grant awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Infrastructure support for this research was provided by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation—John R. Evans Leadership Fund (Grant# 62R22789 awarded to Maya Libben).
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Kaylee Misener and Maya Libben declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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Misener, K., Libben, M. Examination of the Relationship Between Attentional Biases and Body Dissatisfaction: An Eye-Tracking Study. Cogn Ther Res 44, 581–595 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10084-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10084-6