Perception isn't so simple: commentary on Bernard, Gervais, Allen, Campomizzi, and Klein (2012).
journal contribution
posted on 2013-06-01, 00:00authored byMichael J. Tarr
Bernard, Gervais, Allen, Campomizzi, and Klein (2012) report an inversion effect only when participants viewed sexualized male body images and not when they viewed sexualized female body images. On the basis of a belief that face and person recognition is subject to an inversion effect (Rossion, 2008; Yin, 1969) but that object recognition is not, the authors concluded that “at a basic cognitive level, sexualized men were perceived as persons, whereas sexualized women were perceived as objects” (p. 470). The inference is that different visual-recognition processes are applied to images of males and images of females. This conclusion is unwarranted on empirical, methodological, and logical grounds.