Association Between Judgment Biases During Facial Processing and Body Dysmorphic Symptomatology

Abstract Background Recent work has shown that judgment biases during facial processing serve as a correlate of dysmorphic concern. The current study aimed to replicate and extend this by further testing larger model-congruent interrelations between intrusions, negative affect, maladaptive behaviors social media investment. Methods Females reporting high ( n = 30) vs. low 33) concern categorized photographs their own other faces in terms either attractiveness or gaze direction using the Biased Judgment-Dimension Task. To assess intrusions behaviors, participants completed Task-Irrelevant Intrusions Task 3-day diary, respectively. Results revealed that, regardless required, individuals were faster make judgments about attractive unattractive photographs. We termed novel potentially protective bias “Efficient Processing Attractive Self” (EPAS). Furthermore, EPAS patterns predicted lower concern, higher self-esteem, reduced including screen time. Conclusions These findings are consistent with potential relevance maintaining Associations cognitive-behavioral factors highlight benefits modifying these visually oriented interventions.