Direct Experience While Eating in a Sample With Eating Disorders and Obesity.

Background: Individuals with eating disorders might be characterized by lower levels of direct engagement with the eating experience. This study aims to explore similarities and differences in direct experience while eating in four different weight conditions and healthy controls (HCs): anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS), and obesity (OB). Methods: A total sample of 143 women were recruited. Participants were asked to eat an orange slice and write down 10 things about the experience of eating, classifying the focus of these thoughts as either experiential ("direct experience") or analytical ("thinking about"). A direct experience index (DEI) was calculated by dividing the number of times a participant classified an experience as a "direct experience" (the numerator) by the total number of observations. Participants completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and rated their level of anxiety after the task. Results: Between-groups significant differences were found on the DEI, with individuals in the OB group scoring higher than AN and BN, and similar to HC. After the task, the AN group reported significantly higher anxiety levels than HC, and EDNOS reported more anxiety than HC and OB. Between-group significant differences were also found for all the FFMQ facets. Conclusion: AN and BN presented lower access to direct experience while eating. Individuals with OB did not respond in the same way as the other clinical groups, showing a similar performance to HC.

Afterward: Humboldt was Right.

Alexander von Humboldt provides a point of reference for questions that arise when reflecting on the papers in this special issue on "Experiencing the Global Environment," for he aimed to integrate local and global experience and qualitative and quantitative observation in his conceptions of physiognomy and of instruments. What are we to understand by direct experience? How do we draw the limits of our senses, whether in the larger world or internally? Does recent scholarly interest in distributed cognition illuminate the distributed experience of global phenomena obtained through mapping? How do our concepts shape our experience, whether local or global? Finally, do recent trends in the sciences, emphasizing complexity and contingency, tend to make traditional tensions between local and global priorities and between qualitative and quantitative description less relevant? Humboldt would have thought so.

Direct experience while eating: Laboratory outcomes among individuals with eating disorders versus healthy controls.

OBJECTIVE: To compare individuals with eating disorders (EDs) to healthy controls (HCs) to assess for differences in direct engagement in the eating process. METHOD: Participants (n=58) were asked to eat an orange slice. To assess the degree of direct engagement with the eating process, participants were asked to write down 10 thoughts about the experience of eating the orange slice. Next, the participants were instructed to classify the main focus of each thought as either experiential ("direct experience") or analytical ("thinking about"). A direct experience index (DEI) was computed by dividing the number of times that participants classified an experience as a "direct experience" (the numerator) by the total number of all observations (i.e., direct experience+thinking about). Participants also completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ) to assess mindfulness facets and decentering, respectively. RESULTS: Compared to controls, participants in the EDs group presented significantly lower levels of direct experience during the eating task (EDs group: mean=43.54, SD=29.64; HCs group: mean=66.17, SD=22.23, p=0.03). Participants in the EDs group also scored significantly lower on other mindfulness-related variables. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that engagement with the direct experience of eating is lower in individuals with EDs. Future research should investigate the role of mindfulness-based interventions to address direct experience while eating in individuals with EDs.

Experience matters: Dogs (Canis familiaris) infer physical properties of objects from movement clues.

Reasoning about physical properties of objects such as heaviness by observing others' actions toward them is important and useful for adapting to the environment. In this study, we asked whether domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) can use a human's action to infer a physical property of target objects. In Experiment 1, dogs watched an experimenter opening two differently loaded swinging doors with different corresponding degrees of effort, and then were allowed to open one of the doors. Dogs chose randomly between the two doors. In Experiment 2, we gave new dogs the same test as in Experiment 1, but only after giving them experience of opening the doors by themselves, so that they already knew that the doors could be either light or heavy. In this test the dogs reliably chose the light door. These results indicate that dogs are able to infer physical characteristics of objects from the latters' movement caused by human action, but that this inferential reasoning requires direct own experience of the objects.

A Fenomenologia de Kõhler e o conceito de experiência direta / Kõhler's phenomenology and the concept of direct experience / La fenomenología de Kõhler y el concepto de la experiencia directa

Um dos expoentes da Psicologia da Gestalt que mais enfatizou a necessidade do método fenomenológico na psicologia foi Kõhler. Para ele, o método fenomenológico permite abordar adequadamente aquilo que ele denomina a "experiência direta", sem cometer os erros oriundos do introspeccionismo clássico. O objetivo deste artigo é detalhar o método fenomenológico de Kõhler no âmbito de sua teoria da percepção. Ao fim, pretende-se mostrar que ele é central para a fundamentação da Gestalt, por servir como ferramenta para distinguir o objeto da física do objeto da experiência direta...

Kõhler was one of the authors of Gestalt psychology that most emphasized the need of the phenomenological method. For him, the phenomenological method allows properly approach the "direct experience" without committing the errors derived from classical introspection. The purpose of this article is to detail the phenomenological method of Kõhler in his theory of perception. At the end, we intend to show that it is central to the fundaments of the Gestalt psychology. The phenomenological method serves as a tool to distinguish the direct object of external experience from the physical object...

Kõhler fue uno de los autores de la psicología Gestalt que más insistieron en la necesidad del método fenomenológico. Para él, el método fenomenológico permite abordar adecuadamente la "experiencia directa" sin cometer los errores derivados de la introspección clásica. El propósito de este artículo es detallar el método fenomenológico de Kõhler en su teoría de la percepción. Al final, tenemos la intención de mostrar que es fundamental para los fundamentos de la psicología de la Gestalt. El método fenomenológico sirve como una herramienta para distinguir el objeto directo de la experiencia externa del objeto físico...

A Fenomenologia de Köhler e o conceito de experiência direta / Köhler's phenomenology and the concept of direct experience / La fenomenología de Köhler y el concepto de la experiencia directa

Um dos expoentes da Psicologia da Gestalt que mais enfatizou a necessidade do método fenomenológico na psicologia foi Köhler. Para ele, o método fenomenológico permite abordar adequadamente aquilo que ele denomina a "experiência direta", sem cometer os erros oriundos do introspeccionismo clássico. O objetivo deste artigo é detalhar o método fenomenológico de Köhler no âmbito de sua teoria da percepção. Ao fim, pretende-se mostrar que ele é central para a fundamentação da Gestalt, por servir como ferramenta para distinguir o objeto da física do objeto da experiência direta.(AU)

Köhler was one of the authors of Gestalt psychology that most emphasized the need of the phenomenological method. For him, the phenomenological method allows properly approach the "direct experience" without committing the errors derived from classical introspection. The purpose of this article is to detail the phenomenological method of Köhler in his theory of perception. At the end, we intend to show that it is central to the fundaments of the Gestalt psychology. The phenomenological method serves as a tool to distinguish the direct object of external experience from the physical object.(AU)

Köhler fue uno de los autores de la psicología Gestalt que más insistieron en la necesidad del método fenomenológico. Para él, el método fenomenológico permite abordar adecuadamente la "experiencia directa" sin cometer los errores derivados de la introspección clásica. El propósito de este artículo es detallar el método fenomenológico de Köhler en su teoría de la percepción. Al final, tenemos la intención de mostrar que es fundamental para los fundamentos de la psicología de la Gestalt. El método fenomenológico sirve como una herramienta para distinguir el objeto directo de la experiencia externa del objeto físico.(AU)

Direct experience and the course of eating disorders in patients on partial hospitalization: a pilot study.

Awareness of sensory experience in the present moment is central to mindfulness practice. This type of information processing, in contrast to an analytical evaluative style of processing, could be more beneficial for the course of those psychiatric disorders characterized by ruminative and content-centred processing, such as eating disorders (EDs). We performed a pilot study to assess the relation between patients' approach to information processing and the duration and severity of EDs. Fifty-seven patients with a diagnosed ED were included in the study and participated in a self-guided eating activity to asses the primary information processing mode based on mindfulness concepts of 'Direct Experience' and 'Thinking About'. Additionally, dispositional mindfulness was assessed by the Five Factors Mindfulness Questionnaire, and anxiety during the experiment was determined by means of a 10-point visual analogue scale. We found that a higher level of self-reported Direct Experience was inversely associated with several severity variables and with anxiety levels. Direct Experience was predicted by a low anxiety level, less severe illness, and higher scores on one mindfulness facet (Observing). Our results suggest that a Direct Experience processing approach is associated with better ED outcomes. Future studies should be carried out to clarify the repercussion of mindfulness training on EDs.