Sensory sensitivity linked to eating disorder symptoms in Australian adults

Adults who report heightened sensitivity to sights, sounds, smells and other external sensations also tend to report more severe eating disorder symptoms, according to a new cross-sectional study of 221 Australian adults published in Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. The research focused on exteroception, the processing of environmental sensory information, and examined how self-reported exteroceptive sensibility relates to specific eating disorder symptom dimensions rather than to diagnoses as a whole.

The study, led by Laurence Cobbaert with colleagues including Philip B. Mitchell, Phillipa Hay and Iain Perkes, set out to test whether exteroceptive sensibility was associated with dietary restraint, eating concern, weight concern, shape concern, avoidant and restrictive eating symptoms, binge-eating symptoms, and orthorexia-related symptoms. Secondary analyses explored sociodemographic differences in exteroceptive sensibility and whether variables such as sex assigned at birth, gender identity and age moderated the links between sensory sensitivity and symptom dimensions.

Participants came from a non-clinical community sample and completed self-report measures of eating disorder symptoms and exteroceptive sensibility. The researchers used Spearman correlations to assess associations between exteroceptive sensibility and each symptom dimension, group comparisons to probe sociodemographic differences, and regression-based moderation models to test whether sociodemographic variables changed the strength of the associations.

The results showed a consistent pattern. Self-reported exteroceptive sensibility was positively associated with dietary restraint, eating concern, weight concern, shape concern, avoidant and restrictive eating symptoms, and binge-eating symptoms. In other words, the more sensitive participants rated themselves to external sensory input, the more they reported these eating-related difficulties. Associations with orthorexia-related symptoms, which involve an fixation on healthy or supposedly pure eating, were weaker and did not remain statistically significant after the researchers applied Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

The strongest association of all was with avoidant and restrictive eating symptoms. This dimension captures patterns such as avoiding foods because of sensory characteristics, low interest in eating or concern about aversive consequences of eating, and the finding suggests that sensory experiences of food and the wider environment may be particularly relevant to this presentation. The authors note that the findings support consideration of sensory experiences in eating disorder assessment and care.

The secondary analyses added nuance rather than a dramatic twist. Exteroceptive sensibility differed across several sociodemographic variables, meaning that groups defined by characteristics such as sex assigned at birth, gender identity or age reported different average levels of sensory sensitivity. However, the moderation analyses provided only limited evidence that these variables altered the associations between exteroceptive sensibility and eating disorder symptom dimensions. The link between sensory sensitivity and symptoms appears broadly similar across the sociodemographic groups examined.

Because the study is cross-sectional and correlational, it cannot establish whether heightened exteroceptive sensibility contributes to eating disorder symptoms, whether eating-related changes alter sensory processing, or whether both reflect a shared underlying factor. The sample was a non-clinical community group of 221 adults, so the findings may not generalise to people with diagnosed eating disorders receiving treatment. The authors classify the work as a Level III cross-sectional analytic study, and the article is published as open access.

The research fills a gap in a literature that has focused heavily on interoception, the sensing of internal bodily signals such as hunger and fullness, which has long been implicated in eating disorders. Exteroception, by contrast, concerns the processing of external sensory information, and limited research had previously examined its associations across specific eating disorder symptom dimensions. By measuring both in the same framework, the study offers a complementary perspective on how sensory experience might shape eating behaviour.

For clinicians and researchers, the practical implication is modest but concrete. If self-reported sensitivity to external sensations tracks with restraint, concern about eating, weight and shape, restrictive avoidance and binge eating, then sensory experiences may deserve a place in routine assessment conversations. The authors suggest the findings support consideration of sensory experiences in eating disorder assessment and care, while the weaker orthorexia findings and the limited moderation effects caution against assuming the relationship is uniform across all symptom types or demographic groups.

Subject of Research: Associations between self-reported exteroceptive sensibility and eating disorder symptom dimensions in Australian adults

Article Title: Self-reported exteroception across eating disorder presentations: associations with sociocultural factors

Article References: Cobbaert, L., Mitchell, P. B., Hay, P., & Perkes, I. (2026). Self-reported exteroception across eating disorder presentations: associations with sociocultural factors. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-026-01900-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s40519-026-01900-1

Keywords: exteroception, eating disorders, sensory sensitivity, dietary restraint, binge eating, avoidant restrictive eating, orthorexia, cross-sectional study, community sample, sociodemographic factors, Self-reported, across