Reduced capacity in automatic processing of facial expression in restrictive anorexia nervosa and obesity

Abstract There is growing evidence that disordered eating is associated with facial expression recognition and emotion processing problems. In this study, we investigated the question of whether anorexia and obesity occur on a continuum of attention bias towards negative facial expressions in compar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry research 2011-07, Vol.188 (2), p.253-257
Main Authors: Cserjési, Renáta, Vermeulen, Nicolas, Lénárd, László, Luminet, Olivier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affective priming
Analysis of Variance
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa - physiopathology
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Anxiety - etiology
Automatic processes
Biological and medical sciences
Biometric Identification - methods
Continuum model
Depression - etiology
Dopamine
Eating behavior disorders
Emotions
Facial Expression
Female
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Male
Medical sciences
Metabolic diseases
Middle Aged
Obesity
Obesity - physiopathology
Obesity - psychology
Photic Stimulation - methods
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reaction Time - physiology
Recognition (Psychology)
Restrictive–excessive eating
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract There is growing evidence that disordered eating is associated with facial expression recognition and emotion processing problems. In this study, we investigated the question of whether anorexia and obesity occur on a continuum of attention bias towards negative facial expressions in comparison with healthy individuals of normal weight. Thirty-three patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN-R), 30 patients with obesity (OB) and 63 healthy age and social–economic status matched controls were recruited. Our results indicated that AN-R patients were more attentive to angry faces and had difficulties in being attentive to positive expressions, whilst OB patients had problems in looking for or being attentive to negative expressions independently of self-reported depression and anxiety. Our findings did not support the idea that AN-R and OB occur on a continuum. We found that AN-R was associated with a reduced capacity in positive facial expression processing, whereas OB was associated with a reduced capacity in negative facial expressions processing. The social relevance of our findings and a possible explanation based upon neuroscience are discussed.
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2010.12.008