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Investigating vulnerability to eating disorders: biases in emotional processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2009

A. Pringle ,
C. J. Harmer  and
M. J. Cooper
A. Pringle
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
C. J. Harmer
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
M. J. Cooper*
Affiliation:
Isis Education Centre, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr M. J. Cooper, Isis Education Centre, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. (Email: myra.cooper@hmc.ox.ac.uk)
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Abstract

Background

Biases in emotional processing and cognitions about the self are thought to play a role in the maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). However, little is known about whether these difficulties exist pre-morbidly and how they might contribute to risk.

Method

Female dieters (n=82) completed a battery of tasks designed to assess the processing of social cues (facial emotion recognition), cognitions about the self [Self-Schema Processing Task (SSPT)] and ED-specific cognitions about eating, weight and shape (emotional Stroop). The 26-item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner et al. 1982) was used to assess subclinical ED symptoms; this was used as an index of vulnerability within this at-risk group.

Results

Regression analyses showed that biases in the processing of both neutral and angry faces were predictive of our measure of vulnerability (EAT-26). In the self-schema task, biases in the processing of negative self descriptors previously found to be common in EDs predicted vulnerability. Biases in the processing of shape-related words on the Stroop task were also predictive; however, these biases were more important in dieters who also displayed biases in the self-schema task. We were also able to demonstrate that these biases are specific and separable from more general negative biases that could be attributed to depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

These results suggest that specific biases in the processing of social cues, cognitions about the self, and also about eating, weight and shape information, may be important in understanding risk and preventing relapse in EDs.

Keywords

Dieterseating disordersemotional processingvulnerability
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , April 2010 , pp. 645 - 655
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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