Impact of Face Masks on Female Body Perception is Modulated by Facial Expressions

People routinely wear face masks during the pandemic, but little is known about their impact on body perception. In this online study, we presented female body images of Caucasian avatars in common dress sizes displaying happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions with and without face masks, and asked women to rate the perceived body attractiveness and body size. In comparison with mask-off condition, mask-on decreased body attractiveness ratings for happy avatars but did not affect ratings for neutral avatars irrespective of avatar dress sizes. For avatars displaying angry expressions, mask-on increased body attractiveness ratings for slimmer avatars but did not affect ratings for larger avatars. On the other hand, body size estimation was not systematically affected by face masks and facial expressions. It appears that face masks mainly show an expression-dependent influence on body attractiveness judgement, possibly through suppressing the perceived facial expressions.

Use of a real-life practical context changes the relationship between implicit body representations and real body measurements

A mismatch exists between people’s mental representations of their own body and their real body measurements, which may impact general well-being and health. We investigated whether this mismatch is reduced when contextualizing body size estimation in a real-life scenario. Using a reverse correlation paradigm, we constructed unbiased, data-driven visual depictions of participants’ implicit body representations. Across three conditions—own abstract, ideal, and own concrete body—participants selected the body that looked most like their own, like the body they would like to have, or like the body they would use for online shopping. In the own concrete condition only, we found a significant correlation between perceived and real hip width, suggesting that the perceived/real body match only exists when body size estimation takes place in a practical context, although the negative correlation indicated inaccurate estimation. Further, participants who underestimated their body size or who had more negative attitudes towards their body weight showed a positive correlation between perceived and real body size in the own abstract condition. Finally, our results indicated that different body areas were implicated in the different conditions. These findings suggest that implicit body representations depend on situational and individual differences, which has clinical and practical implications.

The link between anxiety and assessment of body attitudes and body size estimation in anorexia nervosa

Although body size estimation (BSE) tasks are frequently used to investigate distorted body representation in anorexia nervosa (AN), the link between anxiety and task performance has been overlooked. To investigate this, 30 female healthy controls (HCs) and 29 female AN patients completed two body attitude questionnaires and three BSE tasks (the Visual Estimation Task, the Tactile Estimation Task and the Hoop Task). Participants completed two body attitude questionnaires and three BSE tasks; the Visual Estimation Task, the Tactile Estimation Task, and the Hoop Task. The STAI-6 was administered before and after each body-related task to assess state anxiety. Results showed that state anxiety levels increased significantly more in AN patients than in HC after completing each task. Thus, performance of AN patients on BSE and other body-related tasks might not just indicate the (mis)perception of their body but also co-occur with increased state anxiety. This has implications for the interpretation of these tasks and for furthering our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie distorted body image in AN.

Pelvic bone morphometric analysis in the dugong (Dugong dugon)

The dugong (Dugong dugon Müller) is recognized as an endangered marine mammal. There is limited available anatomical data on the dugong’s skeletal system, while what is available has not been well established due to the limited number of archived samples and limited access to them. Importantly, there are certain key questions that should be answered when examining the bones and/or remains of animals such as; what kind of bone is it?; what species does it belong to?; what sex was the animal?; how old was the animal? or how big was it?, etc. In this study, we have focused on the pelvic bone of the dugong by asserting the hypothesis that pelvic bone morphology is related to age, sex, and body size. Here, we have established certain morphometric data encompassing 8 parameters and 5 indexes to analyze the morphology of the pelvic bones obtained from 88 specimens (45 dugongs). We will present three main findings: (1) the pelvic bone in mature male subjects is larger than it is in female subjects, (2) a high rate of accuracy can be established for sex identification using morphometric data obtained from the pelvic bone, and (3) the pelvic bone has the highest degree of correlation with body length, followed by body weight and age. Notably, the important data on the pelvic bone of the dugong acquired in this study can be reliable and extremely useful in sex identification and body size estimation.

The Effect of a Virtual-Reality Full-Body Illusion on Body Representation in Obesity

Background. The effective illusory ownership over an artificial body in modulating body representations in healthy and eating disorders population has been repeatedly reported in recent literature. In this study, we extended this research in the field of obesity: specifically, we investigated whether ownership over a virtual body with a skinny abdomen might be successfully experienced by participants affected by obesity. Methods. Fifteen participants with obesity and fifteen healthy-weight participants took part at this study in which the VR-Full-Body Illusion was adopted. The strength of illusion was investigated through the traditional Embodiment Questionnaire, while changes in bodily experience were measured through a body size estimation task. Results. Participants with obesity as well as healthy-weight participants reported to experience the illusion. About the body size estimation task, both groups reported changes only in the estimation of the abdomen’s circumference after the experimental condition, in absence of any another difference. Discussion. Participants with obesity reported to experience the illusion over a skinny avatar, but the modulation of the bodily experience seems controversial. Future lines of research exploiting this technique for modulating body representations in obesity, specifically in terms of potential therapeutic use, were discussed.