Department of Psychology and Centre for Brain Science, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 9;17(9):e0274099. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274099. eCollection 2022.
The present study investigated how women's body image and body-perceptual processes are affected by navel piercings, an embellishment of the abdominal region women often feel negatively about. We probed perceptual (response times), cognitive (surveys), affective (aesthetic ratings) and neural (event-related potentials, ERPs) facets of (own) body perception. We found that navel piercings are primarily motivated by the desire to enhance one's body image, and can significantly improve bodily self-perception relative to before and to imagined removal of the piercing. Hence, body image concerns in women with navel piercings were found to be comparable to those of a control group; and their aesthetic ratings of other women's abdomens only differed, positively, for images depicting navel piercings. ERPs indicated that the sight of navel piercings enhances early structural encoding of bodies as well as late emotional-motivational processes, especially in women with navel piercings. We further found a strong self-advantage in both cortical and behavioural responses during recognition of own and others' abdomens, especially for images displaying the piercing. Altogether, findings suggest that navel piercings become strongly, and beneficially, integrated into women's bodily self image. Such piercings may thus be seen as expressions of body care that can protect against self-harming thoughts and behaviours.
本研究调查了女性的身体形象和身体感知过程如何受到肚脐穿孔的影响，肚脐穿孔是女性经常对腹部感到负面的一种装饰。我们探究了（自身）身体感知的感知（反应时间）、认知（调查）、情感（审美评价）和神经（事件相关电位，ERPs）方面。我们发现，肚脐穿孔主要是出于增强身体形象的愿望，并且可以相对于穿孔之前和想象中的穿孔去除显著改善身体自我感知。因此，发现有肚脐穿孔的女性的身体形象问题与对照组相当；而且，她们对其他女性腹部的审美评价仅因描绘肚脐穿孔的图像而有所不同，呈积极的影响。ERPs 表明，肚脐穿孔的出现增强了对身体的早期结构编码以及晚期情感动机过程，尤其是对有肚脐穿孔的女性。我们还发现，在识别自己和他人的腹部时，无论是在皮质还是行为反应上，都存在强烈的自我优势，尤其是对于显示穿孔的图像。总的来说，研究结果表明，肚脐穿孔已强烈且有益地融入了女性的身体自我形象。因此，这种穿孔可以被视为身体护理的一种表达，可以防止自我伤害的想法和行为。
