Biases in attention and memory for body shape images in eating disorders.

PURPOSE: To investigate attentional and memorial biases towards body shape pictures among female patients with clinical eating disorders and healthy female controls.

METHODS: A visual dot-probe task was used to assess attention towards pictures reflecting either a thin, normal, or obese female body shape. Pictures were presented in pairs; each pair depicted two different body shapes and were presented twice. Participant responses were compared across time and population.

RESULTS: Overall, the eating disorder patients responded more slowly than controls, F(1,63) = 20.32, p < .001. Both groups showed an attentional bias towards the larger of two body shapes, F(1,63) = 4.30, p = .04, and responded more quickly the second time they viewed the picture pairs, F(1,63) = 33.80, p < .001. Upon second viewing of picture pairs, the eating disorder patients had a larger decrease in reaction time (86 ms) than the control sample (33 ms) only when both pictures included extreme body shapes (thin and obese); the decrease in reaction time when one of the pictures included a normal body shape was the same across groups upon second viewing (eating disorder: 37 ms; control: 32 ms), F(1,63) = 9.32, p = .003.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that individuals with eating disorders may be biased towards recall of dichotomous and/or extreme body shape images. While it remains unclear whether attentional and/or memorial bias is a risk, maintenance, or causal factor in eating disorders, future studies should employ longitudinal, prospective research designs to address these questions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II, comparative study.