Abstract
Prolonged exposure to images of narrow bodies has been shown to induce a perceptual aftereffect, such that observers’ point of subjective normality (PSN) for bodies shifts toward narrower bodies. The converse effect is shown for adaptation to wide bodies. In low-level stimuli, object attention (attention directed to the object) and spatial attention (attention directed to the location of the object) have been shown to increase the magnitude of visual aftereffects, while object-based attention enhances the adaptation effect in faces. It is not known whether featural attention (attention directed to a specific aspect of the object) affects the magnitude of adaptation effects in body stimuli. Here, we manipulate the attention of Caucasian observers to different featural information in body images, by asking them to rate the fatness or sex typicality of male and female bodies manipulated to appear fatter or thinner than average. PSNs for body fatness were taken at baseline and after adaptation, and a change in PSN (ΔPSN) was calculated. A body size adaptation effect was found, with observers who viewed fat bodies showing an increased PSN, and those exposed to thin bodies showing a reduced PSN. However, manipulations of featural attention to body fatness or sex typicality produced equivalent results, suggesting that featural attention may not affect the strength of the body size aftereffect.
Highlights
Body size misperception is the perceptual effect wherein a person’s view of their body size is inaccurate
Positive values represent a shift to a fatter point of subjective normality (PSN), while negative values represent a shift to a thinner PSN
The responses of one outlier in the thin adaptation condition ( PSN greater than 2.5 standard deviations from the thin mean), were excluded from further analysis, though the pattern of results was similar with the outlier included
Summary
Body size misperception is the perceptual effect wherein a person’s view of their body size is inaccurate. That is, they view themselves as larger or smaller than they really are. They view themselves as larger or smaller than they really are This has implications for people who fail to recognize that they are overweight, and are less likely to take steps to lose weight, increasing their risk of diabetes and hypertension (Powell et al, 2010). Body size misperception is associated with anorexia nervosa (Stice, 2002), body dissatisfaction, negative affect, eating-disordered behavior and poor mental health (Stice et al, 2003; Paxton et al, 2006) in underweight and normal weight people who perceive themselves to be overweight (McCreary et al, 2004). Research has found that exposing women to extremely thin or fat bodies significantly alters their perception of body normality and ideals (Glauert et al, 2009)
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