Modification of Body-Related Attentional Bias through Virtual Reality and Eye-Tracking in Healthy Participants: Implications for Anorexia Nervosa Treatments

Cognitive biases have a significant impact on the etiology and treatment of eating disorders (EDs). These biases, including selective attentional bias (AB) to disliked body parts, may reinforce concerns about body shape, fear of gaining weight and body image disturbances and may contribute to dietary restriction and restraint. Decreasing AB could reduce core symptoms in anorexia nervosa (AN). This study represents a preliminary exploration aiming to assess whether AB towards weightrelated (WR) and non-weight-related (NW) body parts could be reduced through an AB modification task in a virtual reality (VR) environment in healthy participants. A total of 54 female participants, aged 22.98 +/- 1.89, were recruited. The task consisted of directing the participants ' attention towards all body parts equally in a VR setting. Eye-tracking (ET) measurements (complete fixation time [CFT] and number of fixations [NF]) were made before and after the task. The results showed a significant reduction of the AB in the two groups with an initial AB towards WR body parts or towardsNWbody parts. Participants showed a tendency to more balanced (non-biased) attention after the intervention. This study provides evidence of the usefulness of AB modification tasks in a non-clinical sample.

Automated summary

Cognitive biases significantly impact the development and treatment of eating disorders, including selective attentional bias towards disliked body parts, which reinforces body shape concerns, fear of weight gain, and body image disturbances. This study explores the reduction of attentional bias towards weight-related and non-weight-related body parts through an attentional bias modification task in a virtual reality environment. The results indicate a significant reduction in attentional bias and a tendency towards more balanced attention after the intervention. This study provides evidence of the usefulness of attentional bias modification tasks in a non-clinical sample.