Attentional Bias Of Emotional Body-related Information Among Females With Weight Dissatisfaction

The current aesthetic standard of "thinness is beauty" for females has led to dissatisfaction with their body weight.Previous research has found that females with high weight dissatisfaction(HWD)have attentional biases toward body-related information.However,in previous studies,fat-related information mostly was negative,and thin-related information was positive.In reality,there is also positive fat-related information(e.g.,plump)and negative thin-related information(e.g.,gaunt).Therefore,previous research has found that the attention bias of females with HWD toward fat-related information may be confounded with the processing of negative emotion,and the processing of thin-related information may include the processing of positive emotion,which may lead to the attention bias of females with HWD found in previous studies not being the processing of body-related information itself,but confounded with emotional valence.This study distinguished positive fat-related,negative fat-related,positive thin-related,and negative thin-related information,to examine the attentional processing characteristics of females with weight dissatisfaction toward body-related information with different emotional valences in two experiments.In the present study,participants with high weight dissatisfaction(HWD)were assigned to the experimental group and those with low weight dissatisfaction(LWD)were assigned to a control group based on their scores on the Negative Physical Self Scale-Fatness.In experiment 1,using a 1-back paradigm,participants were presented with stimuli of positive fat-related,negative fat-related,positive thin-related,negative thin-related,and neutral words,to investigate when body shape content and emotional valence were task-irrelevant,the time course of attentional processing of emotional body shape-related information among females with HWD.Results showed that in both groups,(1)weight-related words elicited larger P2(160～190ms),LPP(360～460ms)amplitudes than neutral words;(2)positive and negative thin-related words elicited larger LPP amplitudes than positive and negative fatrelated words.These results suggested that when body shape content and emotional valence were task-irrelevant,females first differentiated body shape-related information from nonbody shape-related information,and then further differentiated fat-related information from thin-related information,while no difference between positive and negative valence on attentional processing within fat-related and thin-related information.Experiment 2 applied a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm,asking participants to search for centrally presented fat-related target words while ignoring peripheral weightrelated distractor words,to investigate the spatial attentional bias and time course of attentional processing of emotional body shape-related information among females with HWD when body shape content was task-relevant.Results showed that(1)in the HWD group,centrally presented negative fat-related words induced a larger N170(260-280ms)amplitudes than positive fat-related,negative thin-related,and neutral words,showing attentional enhancement to negative fat-related information,reflecting an early negative bias of negative fat-related information among women with HWD.(2)In the HWD group,peripheral negative fat-related distractor words elicited significant early and late N2pc(early:210～260ms,late:295～335ms),while positive thin-related distractor words elicited significant early N2pc,indicating that females with HWD showed attentional orientation toward negative fat-related and positive thin-related information and then maintained attention toward negative fat-related information.(3)In the LWD group,peripheral positive fat-related and thin-related distractor words elicited significant early N2pc,and positive thinrelated distractor words elicited significant early and late N2pc,while negative thin-related and fat-related distractor words elicited significant Pd(435～470ms),suggesting that females with LWD showed attentional orientation toward positive fat-related and thin-related information and then maintained attention toward positive thin-related information while showing attentional avoidance toward negative fat-related and thin-related information.In conclusion,(1)When body-related information is irrelevant to the task,both HWD and LWD group initially differentiated body shape-related information from non-body shape-related information,and then further differentiated fat-related information from thinrelated information,while no difference between positive and negative valence on attentional processing within fat-related and thin-related information.(2)When body-related information is relevant to the task,HWD group showed an attentional orientation—maintenance toward negative fat-related information,while no attentional bias toward positive fat-related information,and showed an attentional orientation toward positive thinrelated information,while no attentional bias toward negative thin-related information.