scholarly journals From avatars to body swapping: The use of virtual reality for assessing and treating body‐size distortion in individuals with anorexia

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Serino ◽  
Nicoletta Polli ◽  
Giuseppe Riva
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Distortion

scholarly journals Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Virtual Reality in Mental Healthcare: Effects of Full Body Illusions on Body Image Disturbance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin Turbyne ◽  
Abe Goedhart ◽  
Pelle de Koning ◽  
Frederike Schirmbeck ◽  
Damiaan Denys
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Clinical Utility ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Full Body ◽  
Virtual Body ◽  
Clinical Populations

Background: Body image (BI) disturbances have been identified in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Virtual reality (VR) has recently been used as a tool for modulating BI disturbances through the use of eliciting a full body illusion (FBI). This meta-analysis is the first to collate evidence on the effectiveness of an FBI to reduce BI disturbances in both clinical and non-clinical populations.Methods: We performed a literature search in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, PsychINFO, and Web of Science with the keywords and synonyms for “virtual reality” and “body image” to identify published studies until September 2020. We included studies that (1) created an FBI with a modified body shape or size and (2) reported BI disturbance outcomes both before and directly after the FBI. FBI was defined as a head-mounted display (HMD)-based simulation of embodying a virtual body from an egocentric perspective in an immersive 3D computer-generated environment.Results: Of the 398 identified unique studies, 13 were included after reading full-texts. Four of these studies were eligible for a meta-analysis on BI distortion inducing a small virtual body FBI in healthy females. Significant post-intervention results were found for estimations of shoulder width, hip width, and abdomen width, with the largest reductions in size being the estimation of shoulder circumference (SMD = −1.3; 95% CI: −2.2 to −0.4; p = 0.004) and hip circumference (SMD = −1.0; 95% CI: −1.6 to −0.4; p = 0.004). Mixed results were found in non-aggregated studies from large virtual body FBIs in terms of both estimated body size and BI dissatisfaction and in small virtual body FBI in terms of BI dissatisfaction.Conclusions: The findings presented in this paper suggest that the participants' BIs were able to conform to both an increased as well as a reduced virtual body size. However, because of the paucity of research in this field, the extent of the clinical utility of FBIs still remains unclear. In light of these limitations, we provide implications for future research about the clinical utility of FBIs for modulating BI-related outcomes.

Comparison of Three Psychophysical Techniques for Estimating Body-Size Perception

1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1379-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick M. Gardner ◽  
Leifann C. Jones ◽  
Eric D. Bokenkamp
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Size Perception ◽  
Systematic Bias ◽  
Size Distortion ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Detection Analysis ◽  
Body Size Perception ◽  
Signal Detection Analysis ◽  
Method Of Adjustment

Perception of body size was recorded for 63 university students ( M age = 25.3 yr., 41 women) who estimated their own body size using three methods. Using the method of adjustment, subjects over- or underestimated their body size. A signal-detection analysis indicated that subjects were sensitive to detecting a 4% distortion in body size and that there was no systematic bias for reporting distortion as present or absent. Scores on the adaptive probit estimation task were significantly correlated with values for point of subjective equality and the size judgements with the method of adjustment. Over-all, this experiment demonstrated adaptive probit estimation as a reliable indicator of perceived body size, sensitivity in detecting size distortion, and response bias in making body-size judgements.

scholarly journals Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Provenzano ◽  
Giuseppina Porciello ◽  
Sofia Ciccarone ◽  
Bigna Lenggenhager ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Dissatisfaction ◽  
Image Distortion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Body Image Distortion ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Original Weight

We combined virtual reality and multisensory bodily illusion with the aim to characterize and reduce the perceptual (body overestimation) and the cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). For each participant (20 anorexics, 20 healthy controls) we built personalized avatars that reproduced their own body size, shape, and verisimilar increases and losses of their original weight. Body overestimation and dissatisfaction were measured by asking participants to choose the avatar that best resembled their real and ideal body. Results show higher body dissatisfaction in AN, caused by the desire of a thinner body, and no body-size overestimation. Interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) was then applied on the avatar reproducing participant’s perceived body, and on the two avatars which reproduced increases and losses of 15% of it, all presented with a first-person perspective (1PP). Embodiment was stronger after synchronous IMS in both groups, but did not reduce BID in participants with AN. Interestingly, anorexics reported more negative emotions after embodying the fattest avatar, which scaled with symptoms severity. Overall, our findings suggest that the cognitive-emotional, more than the perceptual component of BID is severely altered in AN and that perspective (1PP vs. 3PP) from which a body is evaluated may play a crucial role. Future research and clinical trials might take advantage of virtual reality to reduce the emotional distress related to body dissatisfaction.

Clinical Correlates of Body-Size Distortion

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1311-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés J. Pumariega ◽  
Carl R. Gustavson ◽  
Joan C. Gustavson ◽  
Sandra A. Black ◽  
Andrew R. Gustavson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Eating Attitudes ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Size Estimation ◽  
Size Distortion ◽  
Eating Disordered ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Body Size Estimation

Body-size distortion has been considered a central symptom of eating disorders. We studied 35 female eating-disordered patients and 85 controls using a computer-based body-size estimation technique. We have found almost identical linear relationships between body-size distortion and weight:height ratios in both groups. In the clinical group, distortion scores were not correlated with scores on the Eating Attitudes Test or Beck Depression Inventory but were negatively correlated with body dissatisfaction as measured on the Eating Disorder Inventory. These results raise further questions about the role of body-size distortion both as a diagnostic criterion and as a complicating phenomenon in eating disorders.

scholarly journals User Experience and usability of a new virtual reality set-up to treat eating disorders: a pilot study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Matamala-Gomez ◽  
Eleonora Brivio ◽  
Alice CHIRICO ◽  
Clelia Malighetti ◽  
Olivia Realdon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Affective State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Italian Women ◽  
State Increase ◽  
Virtual Body

Virtual Reality (VR) has progressively emerged as an effective tool for wellbeing and health in clinical populations. VR effectiveness has been tested before in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) with full-body illusion. It consists in the embodiment of patients with AN into a different virtual body to modify their long-term memory of the body as a crucial factor for the onset and maintenance of this disorder. We extended this protocol using the autobiographical recall emotion-induction technique, in which patients recall an emotional episode of their life related to their body. In this pilot study, we aimed to test the usability and User Experience (UX) of this VR-based protocol. Five Italian women with AN were embodied in a virtual body resembling their perceived body size from an ego- and an allocentric perspective while remembering episodes of their life related to their body. High levels of embodiment were reported while embodied in a virtual body resembling their real perceived body size for ownership (p<0.0001), agency (p=0.04), and self-location (p=0.023). Negative affective state increase after session 2 (p=0.012), and positive affective state increase after session 4 (p=0.006) (PANAS). However, further iteration of the VR system is needed to improve the user experience and usability of the system.

Body size illusions influence perceived size of objects: a validation of previous research in virtual reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-397
Author(s):  
Stefan Weber ◽  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
David Weibel
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Body Size

Body size distortion in bulimia nervosa

1985 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Willmuth ◽  
Karen M. Fondacaro ◽  
Janet Gross ◽  
Harold Leitenberg ◽  
James C. Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Size Distortion
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