Facial asymmetry detection in patients with body dysmorphic disorder

Cognitive-behavioral models of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) propose that individuals with BDD may possess a better or more developed sense of aestheticality than do individuals without BDD. Evidence for this proposition, however, is limited. One perceptual process that could contribute to heighten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behaviour research and therapy 2010-09, Vol.48 (9), p.936-940
Main Authors: Reese, Hannah E., McNally, Richard J., Wilhelm, Sabine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Aestheticality
Behavior modification
Biological and medical sciences
Body dysmorphic disorder
Body Dysmorphic Disorders - psychology
Case-Control Studies
Cognitive models
Detection
Esthetics
Face
Facial Asymmetry
Facial perception
Female
Humans
Judgments
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neuroses
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology
Obsessive-Compulsive neuroses
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Personal appearance
Personality disorders
Preferences
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reference Values
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Somatoform disorders. Psychosomatics
Symmetry
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:Cognitive-behavioral models of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) propose that individuals with BDD may possess a better or more developed sense of aestheticality than do individuals without BDD. Evidence for this proposition, however, is limited. One perceptual process that could contribute to heightened aestheticality is the ability to detect differences in symmetry. In this experiment we tested whether individuals with BDD (n=20), relative to individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD; n=20) and healthy controls (n=20), show an enhanced ability to detect differences in the symmetry of others’ faces, symmetry of dot arrays, and/or show a greater preference for symmetrical faces. Individuals with BDD were not significantly more accurate in detecting differences in facial symmetry or dot arrays relative to individuals with OCD and healthy controls. Individuals with OCD took longer to make facial symmetry judgments than did individuals in the other two groups. All participants, regardless of diagnostic group, preferred more symmetrical faces than nonsymmetrical ones. Taken together, our results do not support a heightened perceptual ability or evaluative preference for symmetry among individuals with BDD.
ISSN:0005-7967
1873-622X
DOI:10.1016/j.brat.2010.05.021