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Original Articles

Perceptual and cognitive biases in individuals with body dysmorphic disorder symptoms

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Pages 1327-1339
Received 25 Jun 2007
Published online: 15 Oct 2008

Given the extreme focus on perceived physical defects in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), we expected that perceptual and cognitive biases related to physical appearance would be associated with BDD symptomology. To examine these hypotheses, participants (N=70) high and low in BDD symptoms completed tasks assessing visual perception and cognition. As expected, there were significant group differences in self-relevant, but not other-relevant, cognitive biases. Perceptual bias results were mixed, with some evidence indicating that individuals high (versus low) in BDD symptoms literally see themselves in a less positive light. Further, individuals high in BDD symptoms failed to demonstrate a normative self-enhancement bias. Overall, this research points to the importance of assessing both cognitive and perceptual biases associated with BDD symptoms, and suggests that visual perception may be influenced by non-visual factors.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the University of Virginia Raven Fellowship to EMC, and an NIH RO1MH0757810–1A2 grant to BAT.

We would like to thank Dennis R. Proffitt and members of the Program for Anxiety Cognition & Treatment (PACT) Lab for their helpful feedback. For research assistance, thanks to: Irina Bocarnea, Alden Gaertner, Erin Horn, Elizabeth Schottinger, and Jessica Zinder.

 

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