The advantages of face processing over processing items in other object categories have been found in conditions both with and without visual awareness. This study examined the possible mechanisms underlying the advantages of processing visible and invisible faces. Specifically, contributions from face-like configurations and face-specific local attributes were evaluated by comparing perceptual processes of three image types: genuine faces, face-like objects, and non-face-like objects. Illusory face perception induced from face-like objects largely depended on information from a global configuration level, with a high tolerance for variations in local features. Comparable processing advantages for real faces and face-like objects were observed in invisible conditions using interocular rivalry and crowding paradigms. However, the visible face advantage seemed to be exclusive to genuine faces. These results suggest that the face processing privilege is twofold: It is strongly triggered by global configuration without visual awareness, but with awareness, it relies on facial local attributes.
Public Significance StatementPeople see faces anywhere. Pareidolia faces perceived from non-face objects are mostly based on configural information rather than local featural similarities of faces, making pareidolia objects natural test cases against genuine faces and non-face-like objects in exploring face-related processes. Using binocular rivalry and crowding behavioral paradigms, this study revealed twofold mechanisms underlying face processing advantages. The dissociated advantages with or without visual awareness suggest how fast and fine face processing is achieved through an exquisite multilevel brain system and, further, may shed insight on understandings in face-related deficits.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.