Body diversity to counteract body size adaptation: Testing the perceptual and attitudinal effects of a deadaptation procedure

Visual exposure to thin or large bodies can produce perceptual aftereffects in the opposite direction. These adaptation effects could play a role in the detrimental effects of visual media on body image. This study investigated whether body-size aftereffects could be reduced by a deadaptation procedure based on exposure to diverse body shapes. In a mixed design, 59 female participants completed a perceptual judgment task and a state body dissatisfaction scale before and after adaptation to a large body, and after either a deadaptation procedure or a passive wait control condition. Adaptation produced a robust shift in the point of subjective equality derived from perceptual judgments, which was attenuated by about half by the deadaptation procedure. However, neither adaptation nor deadaptation seemed to affect state body dissatisfaction, with perceptual and attitudinal changes appearing to be uncorrelated, although a larger sample could be necessary to detect subtler attitudinal changes. These results confirm that deadaptation could be used as a minimal benchmark to test richer body diversity interventions. They also suggest that adaptation on its own primarily affects the perception of other visual stimuli rather than the participant's internal body image.