A visual search examination of attentional biases among individuals with high and low drive for thinness

The purpose of this study was to examine attentional biases through visual search patterns of 40 females with high (high-risk for eating disorders) or low (low-risk for eating disorders) levels of drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction while viewing slides depicting ectomorphic, mesomorphic, and endomorphic female body shapes. Participants were outfitted in an eye tracking system, which was used to collect gaze behavior data while viewing the slides. Fixation frequency and duration to five body locations were analyzed through the use of ASL EYENAL software. For the mesomorphic, ectomorphic, and endomorphic slides, the low-risk group looked significantly more often at the leg region than the high-risk group. The low-risk group also gazed significantly longer at the leg region than the high-risk group when viewing the mesomorphic and ectomorphic slides. For the endomorphic slides, the low-risk group focused significantly longer on the midsection than did the high-risk group. The findings suggest avoidance behaviors among the high-risk group that are reflected in their locus of attention, and indicate that negative affect among high-risk individuals may be induced by selective attention to particular environmental cues. An integrative theoretical account emanating from cognitive, social, and behaviorist approaches to understanding attentional biases in body disturbance is used to explain the findings.