Journal article

Assessing body image in anorexia nervosa using biometric self-avatars in virtual reality: Attitudinal components rather than visual body size estimation are distorted.

  • Mölbert SC Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy,Medical University Hospital Tübingen,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Thaler A Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Mohler BJ Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Streuber S École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Brain Mind Institute,Lausanne,Switzerland.
  • Romero J Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Black MJ Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Zipfel S Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy,Medical University Hospital Tübingen,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Karnath HO Division of Neuropsychology,Center of Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen,Tübingen,Germany.
  • Giel KE Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy,Medical University Hospital Tübingen,Tübingen,Germany.
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  • 2017-07-27
Published in:
  • Psychological medicine. - 2018
English BACKGROUND
Body image disturbance (BID) is a core symptom of anorexia nervosa (AN), but as yet distinctive features of BID are unknown. The present study aimed at disentangling perceptual and attitudinal components of BID in AN.


METHODS
We investigated n = 24 women with AN and n = 24 controls. Based on a three-dimensional (3D) body scan, we created realistic virtual 3D bodies (avatars) for each participant that were varied through a range of ±20% of the participants' weights. Avatars were presented in a virtual reality mirror scenario. Using different psychophysical tasks, participants identified and adjusted their actual and their desired body weight. To test for general perceptual biases in estimating body weight, a second experiment investigated perception of weight and shape matched avatars with another identity.


RESULTS
Women with AN and controls underestimated their weight, with a trend that women with AN underestimated more. The average desired body of controls had normal weight while the average desired weight of women with AN corresponded to extreme AN (DSM-5). Correlation analyses revealed that desired body weight, but not accuracy of weight estimation, was associated with eating disorder symptoms. In the second experiment, both groups estimated accurately while the most attractive body was similar to Experiment 1.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results contradict the widespread assumption that patients with AN overestimate their body weight due to visual distortions. Rather, they illustrate that BID might be driven by distorted attitudes with regard to the desired body. Clinical interventions should aim at helping patients with AN to change their desired weight.
Language
  • English
Open access status
hybrid
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/151102
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