Is body perception associated with specific adaptations to static and dynamic tasks?

Abstract

This study examined university women for associations between somatotype profile and body self-perception, and perception of other women’s bodies, in dynamic and static tasks. The sample comprised 142 female undergraduate students (21.81 ± 3.014 years) assessed for body mass index and somatotype by World Health Organization and Heath-Carter protocols, respectively. Perception of static image was evaluated using the Brazilian Photographic Figure Rating Scale (BPFRS), and dynamic image perception, by the Category Estimation psychophysical task. The latter was performed in two regards: body self-image and images of four unknown models’ bodies. We performed the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test for analysis of variance. Dynamic and static image perception values were paired to zero (total accuracy) and analyzed by Mann-Whitney test for perceptual tendency. Spearman correlation was performed to detect associations between variables. Association between categorical variables (static and dynamic tasks) was by Chi-Square test. Somatotypical profile was found not to be associated with static and dynamic body image self-perception or with perception of unknown body images. Furthermore, looking at one’s static image is not associated with watching oneself in movement, indicating that these perceptual processes are different and independent of body shape