Pupil behaviors in body dysmorphic disorder: an exploration of square wave jerks and pupil diameter

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Jessica Qian¹, Joel P. Diaz-Fong^1,2,3, Bea Calahong¹, Gerhard Hellemann⁴, Jamie D. Feusner^1,2,3,4,5; ¹Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Ontario, Canada, ²University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ³Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA, ⁴University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, ⁵Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) involves a preoccupation with perceived defects or flaws of one’s physical appearance, which may be attributable to abnormalities in visual and neural processing. Square wave jerks (SWJs) and variations in pupil diameter (PD) have previously been implicated in other psychiatric disorders for their associations with underlying neurological mechanisms and emotional arousal; however, very little is known about these phenomena in BDD. This study examines SWJs and variation in PD to determine if individuals with BDD have an increased rate of SWJs and greater pupil variability. 19 healthy controls (HCs) and 27 BDD participants were recruited from the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada. Eye tracking data were obtained for a 1-minute fixation task and measures for dysmorphic concern, depression, anxiety, and changes in mood state were collected. 3 outliers (BDD participants) were excluded from PD analysis. BDD participants had a significantly increased frequency of SWJs than the HCs (BDD mean = 14.04, SD = 11.817; HC mean = 8.53, SD = 12.469; p = 0.031). However, there was no significant difference (p = 0.225) in the PD variation between BDD (mean = 3.14, SD = 0.474) and HC subjects (mean = 3.17, SD = 0.432). Across all participants, SWJ frequency was positively correlated with dysmorphic concern (p = 0.035), measured with the Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire. This investigation found that SWJ frequency was associated with BDD and dysmorphic concern; however, further research with increased sample size is necessary to validate these findings. 

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision