Preliminary Findings from a Single Session of Virtual Reality Attentional Bias Modification Training in Healthy Women

Abstract

AbstractA growing body of research has tried to modify automatic cognitive mechanisms, for instance body-related attentional bias (AB), in eating disorders (EDs). This study provides preliminary findings of an innovative body-related AB modification task using virtual reality (VR) and eye-tracking technologies. It aims to provide further information about other possible body-related variables that might influence the effectiveness of these interventions. Particularly, it assesses whether body image disturbances reported by healthy women are significant predictors of worse intervention outcomes. Twenty-six women participated in the study. Body dissatisfaction, body distortion levels and body-related AB were measured before and after a single session of the VR-AB modification task. All participants were embodied in a virtual avatar with their real measurements and underwent the task for 30 min. AB measures included the number of fixations and complete fixation time on weight-related areas of interest and were recorded using an eye-tracking device incorporated in the VR head-mounted display. Paired sample t-test analyses did not show any significant (p > .05) reduction in ED measures (including body-related AB and body image disturbances) after the intervention. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses revealed that body distortion and body dissatisfaction significantly predicted a lower reduction of an AB levels toward weight-related body areas after the intervention. Our results suggest that body image disturbances may play a critical role in the effectiveness of AB modification training in a non-clinical sample. The combination of VR and eye-tracking technologies might open a wide range of possibilities for designing and developing new body-related interventions that aim to gradually retrain automatic body-related attentional processes in patients with EDs.KeywordsAnorexia nervosaVirtual reality body exposureFull body illusionFear of gaining weightBody image