Human agents immersed in metaverse technologies such as virtual reality (VR) are routinely disconnected from their actual physical appearance and embodied in another virtual body, referred to as self-avatar. Such body transformations can have implications for patients with eating disorders, or persons with extreme body dissatisfaction (BD). Changes in BD, weight anxiety, or body image are theoretically linked to visual selective attention, which can be measured with eye tracking. In the present study, 43 women with high or low BD were immersed in animated body weight-manipulated self-avatars in VR. Before a brief mirror exposure with their self-avatars, they experienced synchronous visuomotor and visuo-tactile contingencies in VR to increase embodiment, delivered through small movement exercises with real-time animation from first-person perspective and passive haptics. In a crossover study design, self-avatar weight was manipulated (normal weight vs. overweight) in both groups (low BD vs. high BD), and subjective experience was assessed before and after exposure. In contrast to our hypotheses, BD was not affected by the self-avatar condition. Embodiment decreased during mirror exposure, possibly due to the avatars wearing head-mounted displays. Interestingly, disembodiment was stronger in women with low BD. Furthermore, eye tracking showed that participants with high BD looked longer at weight-related body parts when immersed in the overweight self-avatar, whereas participants with low BD looked longer at weight-related body parts when immersed in the normal weight self-avatar. Overall, the results support body-specific visual attention and suggest that particularly participants with low BD show stronger disembodiment during self-avatar mirror exposure, possibly alleviating momentary body experience. Preregistration: https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4949.

中文翻译：

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身体不满意引导化身感知：身体质量修改的自我化身中的体现和选择性视觉注意。

沉浸在虚拟现实（VR）等元宇宙技术中的人类主体通常与他们的实际物理外观脱节，并体现在另一个虚拟身体中，称为自我化身。这种身体转变可能会对饮食失调患者或对身体极度不满意（BD）的人产生影响。BD、体重焦虑或身体形象的变化理论上与视觉选择性注意力有关，可以通过眼动追踪来测量。在本研究中，43 名患有高或低 BD 的女性沉浸在 VR 中体重操纵的动画自我化身中。在与自己的化身进行短暂的镜子曝光之前，他们在 VR 中体验了同步视觉运动和视觉触觉意外事件，以增加体现，通过第一人称视角的实时动画和被动触觉的小动作练习来实现。在交叉研究设计中，两组（低 BD 与高 BD）的自我化身体重均受到操纵（正常体重与超重），并在暴露之前和之后评估主观体验。与我们的假设相反，BD 不受自我化身条件的影响。在镜子曝光期间，体现减少，可能是由于化身佩戴头戴式显示器。有趣的是，BD 较低的女性的身体脱离感更强。此外，眼动追踪显示，当沉浸在超重的自我化身中时，高 BD 的参与者会更长时间地注视与体重相关的身体部位，而当沉浸在正常体重的自我化身中时，低 BD 的参与者会更长时间地注视与体重相关的身体部位。总体而言，结果支持身体特定的视觉注意力，并表明特别是低 BD 的参与者在自我化身镜子暴露期间表现出更强的脱离身体的感觉，可能会减轻短暂的身体体验。预注册：https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4949。