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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Clinical Anthropometrics and Body Composition from 3-Dimensional Optical Imaging
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Published on: June 7, 2024

How thin is too thin? Evidence from visual aftereffects in body size estimation.

Sofia Abrevaya1,2,3, Hannah Miell4, Elena Azañón5,6,7,8

  • 1Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina. sabrevaya@conicet.gov.ar.

Psychological Research
|June 2, 2026
PubMed
Summary

Exposure to thin bodies on social media can alter body image perception through visual adaptation. This study found that viewing extremely thin bodies causes stronger aftereffects, making other bodies seem larger.

Keywords:
Adaptation effectBody concernBody imageBody size estimationBody weight estimation

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Published on: October 1, 2011

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Perceptual Science
  • Body Image Research

Background:

  • Social media often presents unrealistic body ideals, potentially leading to body dissatisfaction.
  • Visual adaptation, where prolonged exposure shifts perception, is a proposed mechanism linking thin body exposure to altered body size judgments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if exposure to varying degrees of thinness in body images affects body size judgments relative to one's own body.
  • To examine if individual differences in body image concerns moderate these perceptual aftereffects.

Main Methods:

  • Thirty-four young women participated in a psychophysical task.
  • Participants judged test bodies as thinner or fatter than themselves after adapting to either extremely thin or closer-to-self thin bodies.

Main Results:

  • Stronger contrastive aftereffects were observed after exposure to extreme-thin bodies, indicated by lower points of subjective equality (PSEs).
  • Adaptation to both thin body types shifted judgments, causing test bodies to be perceived as larger.
  • Higher body concern correlated with larger baseline PSEs, suggesting a greater perceived own body size.

Conclusions:

  • Visual adaptation plays a significant role in shaping perceptual judgments of body size.
  • Individual differences in body concern influence the impact of visual adaptation on body image.
  • Opponent coding may explain the mechanism, with more extreme adaptors yielding greater aftereffects.