The cycle of loading and unloading of a spherically-tipped probe against an adhesive. viscoelastic plane specimen is studied by numerical integration of the relations between crack speed and apparent surface energy previously found for a linear 3-element viscoelastic solid with a Maugis-Dugdale law of force across the crack. It is found that even when the rate of loading is so slow that the loading and unloading curves almost coincide, suggesting purely elastic behaviour, the pull-off force can be appreciably greater than the elastic (JKR) value. When the normal force is modulated with a small amplitude sinusoidal variation during unloading-in order to find the contact stiffness-the contact radius barely changes, and the stiffness is close to that for a rigid flat punch instead of having the expected JKR value. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.