Perceiving the Body Differently: Cognitive Processing and Muscle Dysmorphia Tendencies

Perceiving the Body Differently: Cognitive Processing and Muscle Dysmorphia Tendencies Introduction Muscle dysmorphia (MD) is a disorder where individuals obsess over their perceived lack of muscle mass (Pope et al., 1997). Individuals with MD often engage in excessive exercise, dieting, and steroid use to achieve their ideal physique. This study aims to explore the cognitive processes underlying MD, specifically investigating whether individuals with higher MD scores tend to focus on specific body parts (local processing of bodies) rather than seeing body as a whole (typical holistic processing). This would allow an understanding of whether a distorted perception of the body contributes to the development and maintenance of MD. Methods A sample of 202 young adults (M age = 21.33, SD = 3.62; Male = 131) completed online the Body Inversion Effect task (BIE; Reed et al., 2003), which allows for a comparison of body processing modalities, the Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). In addition, participants took part in a control task investigating the inversion effect with building images, which was used to compare the effects of body and non-body inversion task. Accuracy and response times from the inversion tasks were used to calculate the inversion effect index, and correlational analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the body inversion effect, MD scores, and anxiety tendencies. Results The results revealed a negative correlation between the magnitude of the body inversion effect on accuracy and scores on the MDDI-Appearance Intolerance subscale (rs= (200)= -.14, p= .04). Participants with higher scores on this subscale showed smaller differences in accuracy when identifying upright versus inverted body images. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between the body inversion effect on response times and scores on the DASS-Anxiety subscale (rs= (199)= -.20, p <.01), with a reduced body inversion effect in participants with higher anxiety. No correlations were found with the building inversion effect. Discussion This study shows that individuals with higher scores on measures of intolerance for appearance, characterized by body image dissatisfaction, anxiety about a perceived lack of muscle mass, and avoidance of exposing the body, tend to use a local processing of body images. Rather than perceiving their bodies holistically, they focus on specific body parts. Moreover, these findings suggest that a higher level of anxiety is associated with the perceptual processing of body images, but not buildings, implying its specificity to these types of stimuli. To conclude, these findings suggest that the presence of a body processing style that abandons the holistic mode in favor of a more local one, coupled with higher levels of anxiety, could represent the prodromal basis for the development of MD. References Pope et al. (1997) Psychosomatics 38(6):548-57 Reed et al. (2003) Psychol Sci. 14(4):302-8