Ben Zaken Linn Mor, Kalanthroff Eyal, Weinbach Noam
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Int J Eat Disord. 2025 Jan;58(1):238-242. doi: 10.1002/eat.24315. Epub 2024 Oct 29.
Body checking is considered a behavioral expression of the core psychopathology of eating disorders (EDs), namely, overvaluation of body weight and shape. Compulsive checking is motivated by a desire to increase a sense of certainty regarding feared outcomes. Paradoxically, studies showed that repeated checking acts to reduce certainty, forming a vicious cycle. No previous study examined whether the same principle applies for body checking. This study filled this gap by examining the causal effect of repeated body checking on memory certainty regarding checked body parts.
In a laboratory-based study, 77 female participants without an ED checked the size and shape of six body parts. Their objective memory regarding which body part was last checked, and subjective certainty about this memory were assessed. Then, one group of participants continued to engage in repeated body checking, and another group repeatedly checked a neutral object. Finally, all participants completed the six body parts checking procedure again, and their objective memory and memory certainty were re-assessed.
In both checking groups, objective memory regarding the last body part checked was unaffected by the type of checking performed. Importantly, certainty about memory dropped considerably only among those in the repeated body-checking group.
The findings provide the first empirical evidence of a paradoxical effect demonstrating that repeated body checking reduces certainty about checked body parts. The study implies that repeated body checking reduces the quality of information obtained through checking and, as such, could potentially motivate further checking.
身体检查被认为是进食障碍（EDs）核心精神病理学的一种行为表现，即对体重和体型的过度重视。强迫性检查的动机是渴望增加对恐惧结果的确定感。矛盾的是，研究表明反复检查实际上会降低确定感，从而形成恶性循环。此前尚无研究探讨同样的原理是否适用于身体检查。本研究通过考察反复进行身体检查对关于被检查身体部位的记忆确定性的因果效应填补了这一空白。
在一项基于实验室的研究中，77名无进食障碍的女性参与者检查了六个身体部位的大小和形状。评估了她们关于最后检查的是哪个身体部位的客观记忆，以及对该记忆的主观确定感。然后，一组参与者继续进行反复的身体检查，另一组反复检查一个中性物体。最后，所有参与者再次完成六个身体部位的检查程序，并重新评估他们的客观记忆和记忆确定性。
在两个检查组中，关于最后检查的身体部位的客观记忆不受所执行检查类型的影响。重要的是，只有在反复进行身体检查的组中，对记忆的确定感才大幅下降。
这些发现提供了首个矛盾效应的实证证据，表明反复进行身体检查会降低对被检查身体部位的确定感。该研究表明，反复进行身体检查会降低通过检查获得的信息质量，因此可能会促使进一步检查。
