Gender-specific effects of self-objectification on visuomotor adaptation and learning

Self-objectification can influence cognitive and motor task performance by causing resources to be reallocated towards monitoring the body. The present study investigated effects of recalling positive or negative body-related experiences on visuomotor adaptation in women and men. Moderating effects of positive and negative affect were also explored. Participants (100 women, 47 men) were randomly assigned to complete a narrative writing task focused on body-related pride or embarrassment before performing a visuomotor adaptation (cursor rotation) task. A retention test of the visuomotor task was completed after 24 h. Men in the embarrassment group were more impacted by the initial cursor rotation (in movement time and accuracy) than the pride group and showed poorer retention of movement time. Women in the embarrassment group were less accurate than the pride group following initial rotation. In women only, affect modulated the effects of the negative recalled scenario. Further analysis indicated that the differences between embarrassment and pride groups remained in a subset of participants (34 women, 28 men) who explicitly referred to their own movement within their recalled scenarios. These results demonstrate that recalling body-related self-conscious emotions can impact visuomotor adaptation and learning in both women and men, but effects may differ between genders.