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Brooks KR, Baldry E, Mond J, Stevenson RJ, Mitchison D, Stephen ID. Gender and the Body Size Aftereffect: Implications for Neural Processing. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1100. [PMID: 31680834 PMCID: PMC6813220 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2019] [Accepted: 09/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Prolonged exposure to wide (thin) bodies causes a perceptual aftereffect such that subsequently viewed bodies appear thinner (wider) than they actually are. This phenomenon is known as visual adaptation. We used the adaptation paradigm to examine the gender selectivity of the neural mechanisms encoding body size and shape. Observers adjusted female and male test bodies to appear normal-sized both before and after adaptation to bodies digitally altered to appear heavier or lighter. In Experiment 1, observers adapted simultaneously to bodies of each gender distorted in opposite directions, e.g., thin females and wide males. The direction of resultant aftereffects was contingent on the gender of the test stimulus, such that in this example female test bodies appeared wider while male test bodies appeared thinner. This indicates at least some separation of the neural mechanisms processing body size and shape for the two genders. In Experiment 2, adaptation involved either wide females, thin females, wide males or thin males. Aftereffects were present in all conditions, but were stronger when test and adaptation genders were congruent, suggesting some overlap in the tuning of gender-selective neural mechanisms. Given that visual adaptation has been implicated in real-world examples of body size and shape misperception (e.g., in anorexia nervosa or obesity), these results may have implications for the development of body image therapies based on the adaptation model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin R. Brooks
- Body Image and Ingestion Group, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Evelyn Baldry
- Body Image and Ingestion Group, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Jonathan Mond
- Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia
- Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Richard J. Stevenson
- Body Image and Ingestion Group, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Deborah Mitchison
- Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Ian D. Stephen
- Body Image and Ingestion Group, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Clifford CWG, Palmer CJ. Adaptation to the Direction of Others' Gaze: A Review. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2165. [PMID: 30473675 PMCID: PMC6237883 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2018] [Accepted: 10/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The direction of another person’s gaze provides us with a strong cue to their intentions and future actions, and, correspondingly, the human visual system has evolved to extract information about others’ gaze from the sensory stream. The perception of gaze is a remarkably plastic process: adaptation to a particular direction of gaze over a matter of seconds or minutes can cause marked aftereffects in our sense of where other people are looking. In this review, we first discuss the measurement, specificity, and neural correlates of gaze aftereffects. We then examine how studies that have explored the perceptual and neural determinants of gaze aftereffects have provided key insights into the nature of how other people’s gaze direction is represented within the visual hierarchy. This includes the level of perceptual representation of gaze direction (e.g., relating to integrated vs. local facial features) and the interaction of this system with higher-level social-cognitive functions, such as theory of mind. Moreover, computational modeling of data from behavioral studies of gaze adaptation allows us to make inferences about the functional principles that govern the neural encoding of gaze direction. This in turn provides a foundation for testing computational theories of neuropsychiatric conditions in which gaze processing is compromised, such as autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin W G Clifford
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Colin J Palmer
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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知觉负载对注视知觉适应后效的影响 <sup>*</sup>. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2018. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2018.00592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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