Visual Self-Misperception in Eating Disorders

Gadsby, Stephen

doi:10.1177/03010066211056808

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…To see how, it is important to note first that the current evidence is inconclusive as to the exact nature of the experiential body image disturbance. In particular, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether or not such disturbances can involve visual misperceptions of one's own body shape and size (Gadsby, 2022b). Alternative suggestions compatible with the evidence include the hypothesis that subjects simply apply harsher standards when reporting on what are in fact accurate visual representations of themselves; and the hypothesis that the disturbances should be understood as a matter of attending selectively to parts or aspects of one's body that one finds the most unattractive, even if the visual representation of the body is in fact accurate.…”

Section: Advantages Of the Recalcitrant Fear Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the roles of false belief and recalcitrant fear in anorexia nervosa

Varga

Steglich‐Petersen

2023

Mind & Language

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The DSM-5 highlights two essential psychological features of anorexia nervosa (AN): recalcitrant fear of gaining weight and body image disturbance. Prominent accounts grant false beliefs about body weight and shape a central role in the explanation of AN behavior. In this article, we propose a stronger emphasis on recalcitrant fear. We show that such fear can explain AN behavior without the intermediary of a false belief, and thus without the associated explanatory burdens and conceptual difficulties. We illustrate how shifting the emphasis from false belief to recalcitrant fear can supplement a number of different non-doxastic models of AN.

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Section: Advantages Of the Recalcitrant Fear Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the roles of false belief and recalcitrant fear in anorexia nervosa

Varga

Steglich‐Petersen

2023

Mind & Language

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“…Participants may indicate larger bodies for various reasons. For example, responding to the demand characteristics of the experiment, or as a way in which to express emotional attitudes (for discussion of these issues, see Gadsby, 2021). For now, I assume that such assertions are indicative of belief.…”

Section: Eating Disorders and Epistemic Rationalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15 There is some uncertainty regarding what people with eating disorders see when they look in the mirror. Some insist that they visually perceive themselves as larger than reality, though behavioural evidence in support of this has not yet emerged (Gadsby, 2021). Others claim that they see themselves as thin, despite this contradicting how they feel (Espeset et al, 2012).…”

Section: Perceptual Counter Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

The rationality of eating disorders

Gadsby

2022

Mind & Language

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Sufferers of eating disorders often hold false beliefs about their own body size. Such beliefs appear to violate norms of rationality, being neither grounded by nor responsive to appropriate forms of evidence. I defend the rationality of these beliefs. I argue that they are in fact supported by appropriate evidence, emanating from proprioceptive misperception of bodily boundaries. This argument has far-reaching implications for the explanation and treatment of eating disorders, as well as debates over the relationship between rationality and human psychology.

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“…A common report from individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) is that they see themselves as overweight (Espeset et al, 2011(Espeset et al, , 2012. These observations provide anecdotal evidence for the visual selfmisperception hypothesis: when individuals with AN look at themselves (e.g., in a mirror or a photograph), they perceive their bodies as larger than they really are (Gadsby, 2021). This hypothesis is clinically relevant, as perceiving oneself as larger may exacerbate harmful beliefs about being overweight (Gadsby, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Testing visual self‐misperception in anorexia nervosa using a symmetrical body size estimation paradigm

Gadsby

Zopf

Brooks

et al. 2023

Intl J Eating Disorders

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ObjectiveIndividuals diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN) often report seeing themselves as overweight. While body size estimation tasks suggest that such individuals overestimate their body size, these tasks have failed to establish whether this misestimation stems from visual misperception. Misestimation might, instead, be due to response bias. We designed a paradigm to distinguish between visual and response bias contributions to body size misestimation: the symmetrical body size estimation (s‐BSE) paradigm.MethodThe s‐BSE paradigm involves two tasks. In the conventional task, participants estimate the width of their photographed body by adjusting the size of a rectangle to match. In the transposed task, participants adjust the size of a photograph of their body to match the rectangle. If overestimation stems exclusively from visual misperception, then errors in each task would be equal and opposite. Using this paradigm, we compared the performance of women diagnosed with AN (n = 14) against women without any eating disorder (n = 40).ResultsIn the conventional task, we replicated previous findings indicating that both women with AN and women without any eating disorder overestimate their body size. In the transposed task, neither group adjusted the bodies to be narrower than the rectangle. Participants with AN set their photographs to be significantly wider.DiscussionWhile we replicated previous findings of body size overestimation amongst women with AN and those without any eating disorder, our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that such overestimation stems exclusively from visual misperception and instead suggest a substantial response bias effect.Public SignificanceWomen with anorexia nervosa overestimate their own body size. Research has not yet determined whether this overestimation stems from them seeing themselves as larger or other, non‐visual factors. We employ a new method for distinguishing these possibilities and find that non‐visual factors influence size estimates for women with and without anorexia nervosa. This method can help future research control for non‐perceptual influences on participant responses.

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Visual Self-Misperception in Eating Disorders

Cited by 11 publications

References 65 publications

On the roles of false belief and recalcitrant fear in anorexia nervosa

On the roles of false belief and recalcitrant fear in anorexia nervosa

The rationality of eating disorders

Testing visual self‐misperception in anorexia nervosa using a symmetrical body size estimation paradigm

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