An examination of body perception and body image concerns within exercising and other at-risk populations

Exercising for weight change and appearance related reasons is associated with disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and diminished well-being. This thesis sought to establish the association between body perception and body image concern within exercising and other at-risk populations. Initially, we investigated the cortical stages of visual body- and gender-sensitive processing, as well as body inversion effects (BIE), in observers at risk of eating disorders (ED), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and/or muscle dysmorphia (MD). We found some evidence to suggest a configural processing disruption of body stimuli in high-risk groups, suggesting atypical configural body representation is not only present in women at-risk of body image-related disorders, but might extend to men at-risk of MD. Gender-sensitive body processing was observed in women only. A series of online studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between body processing and body image concerns amongst exercisers. We found increased time spent resistance training positively correlated with interoceptive awareness, maladaptive body image and supplement use. We also found during the COVID-19 pandemic that MD symptoms positively associated with increased mood disturbance, social media use, and elevated perceptions of pressure to engage in body transformative exercise. Additionally, we found in an online visuospatial body map task that performance was associated with increased body image disturbance in women, highlighting implications for understanding how configural body tasks can be used to assess body image concerns in the general population. Finally, we proposed an online study to assess attentional biases in low- and high-risk gym-goers toward MD-relevant stimuli such as bodies, muscle-building supplements, and gym equipment. It is concluded that processes indicative of body perception, in both brain and behaviour, present atypically in women at-risk of EDs/BDD, and differ to those in men at-risk of MD. Importantly, body-structural perception measures appear a suitable approach to delineating individuals at-risk of MD.