Gaze Behaviour in Adolescent Patients With Anorexia Nervosa: The Special Role of Subjectively Unattractive Body Parts

OBJECTIVE: Research suggests that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) focus on subjectively unattractive parts of their own and others' bodies. This attentional bias has been explained by increased anxiety, which is observed in patients with AN. The present study therefore examined whether attentional bias towards unattractive body parts is stronger in AN patients than in clinical and non-patient controls. METHODS: After high and low anxiety induction, female adolescents with AN (n = 27), depression without an eating disorder (n = 18), and non-patient participants (n = 14) viewed images of their own bodies and those of an underweight and an overweight individual while eye-tracking data were recorded. After viewing the images, participants rated body parts regarding attractiveness. RESULTS: Mixed ANOVAs revealed that all participants looked longer at unattractive parts of the overweight body and fixated earlier on attractive parts of the overweight and own body than on unattractive parts. Unattractive body parts were visited more frequently for the overweight and own bodies. Compared to the two control groups, AN patients fixated more on subjectively unattractive body parts and were more likely to focus on the overweight body. DISCUSSION: This preference for subjectively unattractive body parts in AN patients is linked to increased body dissatisfaction, with gaze patterns indicating anxiety-related hyperscanning of their own and the overweight body.