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Body size perception in anorexia nervosa: a signal detection approach
M A Smeets1, J D Ingleby, H W Hoek
1Department of Psychonomics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. smeets@monell.org
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|July 15, 1999
Summary
Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) do not perceive body size differently but reconstruct their visual body image with a bias. This suggests AN body image issues stem from image reconstruction, not initial perception.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with significant body image disturbances.
- Existing research suggests a distorted perception of body size in individuals with AN.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) overestimate their body size due to altered perception.
- To differentiate between perceptual sensitivity and response bias in body size estimation in AN.
Main Methods:
- Signal detection analysis was used to assess perceptual sensitivity and response bias.
- Participants with AN and control groups judged size differences between body images.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in perceptual sensitivity for body size were found between AN and control groups.
- Individuals with AN exhibited a bias towards reporting "thin" differences, unlike thin controls.
- Body size overestimation in AN did not correlate with perceptual sensitivity.
Conclusions:
- Abnormalities in body image in anorexia nervosa likely originate during the reconstruction of the visual body image.
- The findings suggest that the issue is not in the initial perception but in the subsequent processing and representation of the body image.