The Perceived Sex of Biological Motion Displays is Influenced by Adaptation to Biological Motion but Not Adaptation to Static Faces

摘要

Previous research has shown that adapting to biological motion creates an aftereffect in the perceived sex of subsequently viewed biological motion displays. Also, adapting to a face creates an aftereffect in the perceived sex of subsequently viewed faces. We sought to determine whether a sex aftereffect in biological motion can be created from adapting to a face. Participants first classified the sex of thirteen biological motion displays and thirteen faces that varied in appearance from male to female. A subset of these stimuli was used in an adaptation experiment. Participants adapted to either biological motion or static faces that were male, neutral, or female. After 10 seconds of adaptation, participants viewed a biological motion test display that in an unadapted state ranged from male to female. The data showed that adapting to biological motion biased the perception of the test stimulus towards the opposite sex. However, there was no effect of adapting to static faces. The results suggest that adapting to faces does not create sex aftereffects in biological motion perception. This suggests that there are independent neural sites for sex adaptation for faces and for biological motion.