Emotion Specific Effects on Attentional Bias Among Women with Shape and Weight Concerns

Eating disorders are characterized by distorted beliefs about one’s body shape and weight, biased attention to appearance related stimuli, and emotion dysregulation. In separate experiments we tested the impact of two negative emotions on attention to shape and weight concerns among women with and without weight and shape concerns. In Experiment 1, women with higher body shape and weight concerns, in comparison to those with low shape and weight concerns, demonstrated a bias in attention to shape and weight information during an induced sad emotion. These groups did not differ during a neutral mood induction. In Experiment 2, those with high, in comparison to those with low, shape and weight concerns were more biased in attention to weight and shape information, but these groups did not show a differential bias during an induced anxious emotion. Though it has been suggested that biased attention serves as a critical mediator in the relationship between negative emotion and binge eating, the results of these experiments suggest that discrete emotions might have unique effects in their influence on cognitive processing. Further research to identify the unique influences of sadness and anxiety on cognitive processes are warranted.