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Taking a closer look at body processing in binge eating disorder - Influence of BMI and eating pathology.

Author
Abstract
:

Individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) show preferred attention allocation towards their own (vs. another) body, and towards self-disliked (vs. self-liked) body parts. It remains unclear whether these gaze patterns are a consequence of underlying eating pathology or increased weight. In this study, women with BED (N = 73), overweight (N = 38) and healthy weight (N = 42) female control groups (CG) performed two eye-tracking paradigms using pictures of their own and a control-body. In task 1 (processing their own vs. a control-body), the BED group displayed a stronger preference for the own body during more automatic processing relative to the overweight CG, whereas the healthy weight CG showed a balanced attention distribution between both bodies. In task 2, all groups showed a bias towards the most unattractive relative to the most attractive part of their own body. This was strongest in the BED and overweight groups, but only the BED group showed a negative bias towards the control-body. Results indicate a stronger self-focused and deficit-oriented bias in the BED group but also some abnormalities in overweight individuals. Future studies should test whether these biases are modifiable, and whether their modification improves body image.

Year of Publication
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2022
Journal
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Behaviour research and therapy
Volume
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156
Number of Pages
:
104106
ISSN Number
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0005-7967
URL
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https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0005-7967(22)00077-8
DOI
:
10.1016/j.brat.2022.104106
Short Title
:
Behav Res Ther
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