Visual Habituation in the U.S. Prison Population and effects on Recidivism

Abstract

Normal visual habituation occurs after repeated exposure to a visual stimulus lessens the novel impact of that stimulus on the observer. Adaptation to visual stimuli occurs after repeated exposure lessens the emotional response of the observer to the stimulus. Because of these visual mechanisms working together, humans are able to ‘get used to’ just about anything, even highly emotional stimuli. A function of the U.S. prison system is to prevent crime by incarcerating guilty criminals, and to deter these individuals from reoffending upon release. It is proposed in this work that because individuals possess the ability to ‘get used to’ the visual and emotional environment while incarcerated, it makes them more likely to habituate to a relatively unchanging visual field and leads to an increased likelihood of recidivism upon release due to hypersensitivity to the world outside of prison