Perceptual not attitudinal factors predict the accuracy of estimating other women's bodies in both women with anorexia nervosa and controls

TY - JOUR

T1 - Perceptual not attitudinal factors predict the accuracy of estimating other women's bodies in both women with anorexia nervosa and controls

AU - Gledhill, Lucinda J.

AU - George, Hannah R.

AU - Tovée, Martin J.

PY - 2019/1/1

Y1 - 2019/1/1

N2 - Disturbance in how one's body shape and size is experienced, usually including over-estimation of one's own body size, is a core feature of the diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa (AN). Is this over-estimation specific to women with AN's judgments of their own body? Or is it just a general feature of their judgments about all bodies? If the latter, it would be consistent with a general error in the perception of body size potentially linked to the use of a different set of visual cues for judging body size. If the former, then this suggests that the over-estimation of own body size has a strong attitudinal component and may be part of the psycho-pathology of their condition. To test this hypothesis, 20 women with AN and 80 control observers estimated the body size of 46 women. The results show a strong effect of perceptual factors in estimating body size for both controls and women with AN. This result is consistent with size over-estimation of own body in AN having a strong attitudinal basis and being a core feature of the psycho-pathology of the condition.

AB - Disturbance in how one's body shape and size is experienced, usually including over-estimation of one's own body size, is a core feature of the diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa (AN). Is this over-estimation specific to women with AN's judgments of their own body? Or is it just a general feature of their judgments about all bodies? If the latter, it would be consistent with a general error in the perception of body size potentially linked to the use of a different set of visual cues for judging body size. If the former, then this suggests that the over-estimation of own body size has a strong attitudinal component and may be part of the psycho-pathology of their condition. To test this hypothesis, 20 women with AN and 80 control observers estimated the body size of 46 women. The results show a strong effect of perceptual factors in estimating body size for both controls and women with AN. This result is consistent with size over-estimation of own body in AN having a strong attitudinal basis and being a core feature of the psycho-pathology of the condition.

KW - Anorexia nervosa

KW - Body mass index

KW - Body size over-estimation

KW - Contraction bias

KW - Eating disorders

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068417647&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00997

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00997

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068417647

SN - 1664-1078

VL - 10

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

IS - MAY

M1 - 997

ER -