Aftereffects for face attributes with different natural variability: Children are more adaptable than adolescents

Adults can be adapted to a particular facial distortion in which both eyes are shifted symmetrically (Robbins, R., McKone, E., & Edwards, M. (2007). Aftereffects for face attributes with different natural variability: Adapter position effects and neural models. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 570–592), but they do not show as great adaptation to an asymmetrical eye distortion. We adapted children and adolescents to symmetrical and asymmetrical eye distortions and measured the aftereffects. Children (aged 6–12, mean age 9 years) showed larger aftereffects than adolescents (aged 13–18, mean age 15 years) and demonstrated aftereffects of a similar magnitude for both asymmetrical and symmetrical distortions. Adolescents only showed aftereffects for symmetrical distortions. We propose that children may have a more flexible face norm and neural responses that allow a broader range of adapted states compared to adolescents.