Body-Related Attentional Bias in Anorexia Nervosa and Body Dissatisfaction in Females: An Eye-Tracking and Virtual Reality New Paradigm

According to recent research, eating disorder (ED) patients tend to check unattractive body parts. However, few studies have studied this attentional bias (AB) phenomenon combining virtual reality (VR) with eye-tracking (ET). This study aims to examine whether anorexia nervosa (AN) patients have a longer fixation time and a greater fixations number on the weight-related body areas compared to the healthy sample with high body dissatisfaction (HBD) and low body dissatisfaction (LBD). It will also examine whether the HBD group will have more fixations and spend more time looking at weight-related areas than those with LBD. Forty-three college women (18 with HBD and 25 with LBD) and 23 AN patients were immersed in a virtual environment and then embodied in a virtual avatar with their real body measurements and body mass index (BMI). Eye movement data were tracked using an ET device incorporated in the VR headset (FOVE). The number of fixations and the complete fixations time were registered on the weight-related areas of interest (W-AOIs) and non-weight-related areas of interest (NW-AOIs). The results showed that AN patients have a longer fixation time and a greater fixations number on W-AOIs than both HBD and LBD groups, who did not show any statistical differences in the visual selective attention to NW-AOIs and W-AOIs.

Automated summary

According to this study, anorexia nervosa patients show higher fixation time and number of fixations on weight-related body areas compared to healthy individuals with high or low body dissatisfaction. There were no statistical differences in visual selective attention to weight-related and non-weight-related areas for the healthy sample.