Body image disturbance, consisting of an affective (body dissatisfaction) and perceptual (body distortion) component, is not only found in eating disorders, but is also present in healthy individuals, affecting their psychological well‐being and everyday life. A higher body mass index is associated with higher body dissatisfaction, whereas results in relation to body distortion are mixed. Furthermore, body dissatisfaction is associated with a weight‐related attentional bias. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of a weight‐related attentional bias in the relationship between body mass index and body image disturbance. Forty‐one college women took part in a virtual reality and eye tracking procedure, in which the illusion of owning a virtual avatar with their body measurements was induced. During this procedure, body‐related attentional bias was measured and afterwards body image disturbance was assessed. Mediation analysis revealed that weight‐related attentional bias mediated the relationship between body mass index and body dissatisfaction (but not distortion). These findings suggest that modifying weight‐related attentional bias would be a useful treatment target for improving body dissatisfaction. In addition, virtual reality technology could serve as an innovative method for modifying attentional bias in an ecologically valid way.

中文翻译：

---

身体相关的注意偏见是体重指数与身体不满意之间关系的中介。

身体意象障碍包括情感（身体不满意）和知觉（身体变形）组成部分，不仅存在于饮食失调中，而且还存在于健康个体中，从而影响其心理健康和日常生活。较高的体重指数与较高的身体不满意感相关，而与身体变形有关的结果则混杂在一起。此外，身体不满意与体重相关的注意力偏见有关。这项研究旨在调查体重相关注意偏见在体重指数与身体形象障碍之间的中介作用。四十一名大学妇女参加了虚拟现实和眼睛跟踪程序，在这种程序中，人们产生了拥有自己的身体测量值的虚拟化身的幻想。在此过程中，测量与身体相关的注意偏见，然后评估身体图像障碍。中介分析显示，体重相关的注意偏见介导了体重指数与身体不满（但不是畸变）之间的关系。这些发现表明，改变体重相关的注意偏见将是改善身体不满的有效治疗目标。此外，虚拟现实技术可以作为一种创新的方法，以一种生态有效的方式改变注意力偏向。这些发现表明，改变体重相关的注意偏见将是改善身体不满的有效治疗目标。此外，虚拟现实技术可以作为一种创新方法来以生态学上有效的方式改变注意力偏向。这些发现表明，改变体重相关的注意偏见将是改善身体不满的有效治疗目标。此外，虚拟现实技术可以作为一种创新方法来以生态学上有效的方式改变注意力偏向。