Table 2. Socio-emotional processes (attentional biases, emotion recognition, empathy and frequency of loss of attention and facial emotional expressions) evoked by video clips displaying happiness, sadness and anger.
Scores are expressed as means and standard deviations for participants with eating disorders (EDs) and healthy controls (HCs). Effect sizes of differences are presented.
| Process and sample size | Emotion valence | EDs | HCs | Effect size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attentional bias (EDs = 63; HCs = 69) | Happiness | -12.6 (48.8) | -2.2. (52.3) | 0.3 |
| Sadness | 3.7 (52.3) | -10.2 (50) | 0.1 | |
| Emotion recognition (EDs = 49; HCs = 72) | Happiness | 12.8 (4.0) | 13.9 (3.7) | 0.28 |
| Sadness | 11.3 (6.3) | 12.5 (7.0) | 0.17 | |
| Anger | 21.4 (9.2) | 24.2 (7.2) | 0.34 | |
| Emotional empathy (EDs = 49; HCs = 72) | Happiness | 9.1 (8.2) | 10.5 (6.3) | 0.19 |
| Sadness | 5.4 (5.4) | 4.7 (5.1) | 0.13 | |
| Anger | 9.2 (7.7) | 9.2 (7.9) | 0 | |
| Facial expressions* (EDs = 43; HCs = 66) | Positive to happiness | .5 (.9) | 1.4 (1.2) | 0.8 |
| Negative to sadness | .4 (.5) | .7 (.7) | 0.47 | |
| Negative to anger | .9 (.9) | 1.5 (1.2) | 0.54 | |
| Looking away* (EDs = 43; HCs = 66) | Happiness | .9 (1.7) | .2 (1.0) | 0.53 |
| Sadness | 1.6 (3.1) | 1.0 (2.1) | 0.2 | |
| Anger | 1.7 (3.9) | .3 (1.4) | 0.52 |
Significant differences between groups are identified with a * next to the study’s outcomes.