Altered exposure-related reshaping of body appreciation in adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa

Several studies suggest a relation between repeated exposure to extremely thin bodies in media and the perceptual and emotional disturbances of body representation in anorexia nervosa (AN). In this study, we utilized an exposure paradigm to investigate how perceptual experience modulates body appreciation in adolescents with AN as compared to healthy adolescents. Twenty AN patients and 20 healthy controls were exposed to pictures of thin or round models and were then required to express liking judgments about bodies of variable weight. Brief exposure to round models increased the liking judgments of round bodies but not those of thin bodies in healthy adolescents. Furthermore, exposure to round models increased the liking judgments of both thin and round bodies in adolescents with AN. Patients did not show any change of liking judgments after exposure to thin models. These results point to weak norm-based reshaping of body appreciation in AN patients.