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Abstract
Evidence related to temporal control for stimuli presentation of whole-body image is generally associated with attentional bias to ideal thin bodies. Few studies present evidence concerning whole-body stimuli recognition during fast visual exposure intervals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reaction times for the judgment of different sized body silhouettes presented at 17 ms in a non-clinical sample. Thirty-one participants were divided in attitudinal and perceptual body image groups based on Figure Rating Scale output and performed two experiments. First experiment assessed perception and the clarity of visual experience for human and non-human body stimuli at 17 ms. A general accuracy of 69.17% was registered with no differences between perceptual and attitudinal body image groups. These results indicated that the way participants perceive their own bodies does not influence the recognition of general visual silhouette stimuli. It was also observed that the clarity of visual experience is positively correlated to stimuli recognition accuracy. In the second experiment participants had to respond in a seven-point Likert scale if the presented image of body silhouettes were bigger, equal or thinner than their own bodies. Trials were divided in two blocks based on spatial rotation, half at 0° and half at 180°. General accuracy for body silhouettes recognition was 41.1%. Greater accuracy recognition for regular positioned stimuli was observed. Attitudinal dimension of body image was not a predictor of differential performance whereas perceptual body image groups recorded contrasting recognition performance. Distorted body image participants presented higher accuracy than undistorted body image participants, with greater accuracy to thinner silhouette figures. Women had significantly higher overall accuracy than men considering both experimental blocks. When comparing the cumulative accuracy curves across experimental trials, an exposure effect was registered only for the first experiment. Results showed that body silhouette stimuli were judged in a fast exposure interval with differential accuracy rates only for perceptual body image groups. Such evidence signals that conscious body image can be associated to implicit detection of visual human body stimuli. Future studies should further test how traditional explicit body image outputs perform within experimental approaches.
Highlights
Body image has been systematically investigated through a set of experimental methods that include evaluation of size judgment and perceptual awareness paradigms
Results indicated an inversion effect of silhouette figures recognition at 17 ms and differences of performance between distorted and undistorted body image groups. It has evidenced a specific effect of accuracy for silhouette figures thinner than the participants’ own body in the distorted body image group
In line with continuous models of body representation and consciousness of the body, the present study offers evidence that fast body size judgment responses are partially associated with explicit body size judgments
Summary
Body image has been systematically investigated through a set of experimental methods that include evaluation of size judgment and perceptual awareness paradigms. Literature in the field generally refers to feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction a person has about their body size and shape (Cornelissen et al, 2019) Even though these evaluation strategies specify patterns of experience toward its own body, little was known of perceptual body image until experimental methods were applied to the investigation (Martel et al, 2016). Contemporary integrative models assuming a continuous process between implicit cognition to explicit selfreferred perception of its own body have taken mainstream discussion on body image (e.g., Pitron et al, 2018) Such models can be traced back to inputs from Maurice MerleauPonty’s phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty, 2006), but have been revived in recent cognitive science by representational models of low- and high-level cognition (e.g., Longo and Haggard, 2012; Cardinali et al, 2016)
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