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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Body-shape adaptation cannot be explained by adaptation to narrow and wide rectangles.

Dennis Hummel¹, Ralph Grabhorn, Harald M Mohr

¹Department of Neurocognitive Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Goethe University, Mertonstrasse 17, 60054 Frankfurt, Germany. hummel@psych.uni-frankfurt.de

|March 22, 2013

Summary

Visual adaptation to body shapes creates a perceptual aftereffect. This body-shape aftereffect is specific and not due to low-level visual properties like lines.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Visual Perception
Body Image

Background:

Visual adaptation influences perception of subsequently viewed stimuli.
Previous research suggests adaptation to simple shapes might explain complex visual aftereffects.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if visual adaptation to body shapes causes a specific perceptual aftereffect.
To determine if this body-shape aftereffect can be explained by adaptation to low-level visual elements.

Main Methods:

Participants adapted to manipulated images of their own bodies (thin or fat).
Perceptual judgments of body shape were assessed using an interleaved staircase paradigm.
A control experiment used adaptation to narrow and wide bars.

Main Results:

Adaptation to thin or fat body images induced a body-shape aftereffect.
Participants perceived their bodies as more realistic after adaptation, consistent with an aftereffect.
Adaptation to narrow and wide bars did not replicate this effect.

Conclusions:

A specific perceptual body-shape aftereffect exists.
This aftereffect is not attributable to adaptation to low-level visual properties.
Perception of body shape is influenced by specific visual adaptation processes.