Preattentive analysis of facial expressions of emotion

White, Murray J.

doi:10.1080/02699939508408975

Cited by 97 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Bradley et al 1997). It is even more surprising given the wealth of evidence using a variety of other paradigms that angry faces do indeed capture attention in normal, non-anxious populations (Ohman, Lundqvist, & Esteves, 2001;Fox, Lester, Russo, Bowles, Pichler, & Dutton, 2000;Eastwood, Smilek, & Merikle, 2003;White, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional bias to angry faces using the dot-probe task? It depends when you look for it

Cooper

Langton

2006

Behaviour Research and Therapy

188

166

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A number of studies using the dot-probe task now report the existence of attentional biases to angry faces in participants who rate highly on scales of anxiety; however, no equivalent bias has been observed in non-anxious populations, despite evidence to the contrary from studies using other tasks. One reason for this discrepancy may be that researchers using the dot-probe task have rarely investigated any effects which might emerge earlier than 500 ms following presentation of the threat-related faces.Accordingly, in the current study we presented pairs of face stimuli with emotional and neutral expressions and probed the allocation of attention to these stimuli for presentation times of 100ms and 500ms. Results showed that at 100ms there was an attentional bias towards the location of the relatively threatening stimulus (the angry face in angry/neutral pairs and the neutral face in neutral/happy pairs) and this pattern reversed by 500ms. Comparisons of RT scores with an appropriate baseline suggested that the early bias toward threatening faces may actually arise through inhibition of the relatively least threatening member of a face pair rather than through facilitation of, or vigilance towards, the more threatening stimulus. However the mechanisms governing the observed biases are interpreted, these data provide evidence that probing for the location of spatial attention at 500ms is not necessarily indicative of the initial allocation of attention between competing emotional facial stimuli.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional bias to angry faces using the dot-probe task? It depends when you look for it

Cooper

Langton

2006

Behaviour Research and Therapy

188

166

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“…By definition, faces expressing different emotions, such as anger and happiness, consist of different composites of features. Given these differences, any evidence showing differential guidance of focal attention by unattended faces expressing different emotions can often be accounted for in terms of the different features, rather than in terms of the different emotions expressed by the faces (e.g., Byrne & Eysenck, 1995;Nothdurft, 1993;Purcell, Stewart, & Skov, 1996;White, 1995).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In a number of studies, the underlying assumption has been that the only satisfactory evidence that a face guides focal attention is a pattern of findings showing that the speed with which a face is detected is relatively unaffected by the number of distractor faces (e.g., Hampton et al, 1989;Nothdurft, 1993;Purcell et al, 1996;White, 1995). In other words, the slope of the search function across increasing numbers of distractors should be relatively flat.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The participants were required to indicate the spatial location of the target in each display, to ensure that their attention had in fact been directed to the location of the target (see Smilek et al, 2000). Finally, schematic faces were used to minimize featural differences that might overwhelm any potential guidance of focal attention that was based on affective differences between the target faces (see Nothdurft, 1993;Purcell et al, 1996;White, 1995).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Differential attentional guidance by unattended faces expressing positive and negative emotion

Eastwood

Smilek

Merikle

2001

Perception & Psychophysics

526

503

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Four experiments were conducted to evaluate whether focal attention can be guided by an analysis of the emotional expression in a face. Participants searched displays of 7, 11, 15, and 19 schematic faces for the location of a unique face expressing either a positive or a negative emotion located among distractor faces expressing a neutral emotion. The slopes of the search functions for locating the negative face were shallower than the slopes of the search functions for locating the positive face (Experiments 1A and 2A). When the faces were inverted to reduce holistic face perception, the slopes of the search functions for locating positive and negative faces were not different (Experiments 1B and 2B). The results suggest that the emotional expression in a face can be perceived outside the focus of attention and can guide focal attention to the location of the face.

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“…Retrieval of Inhibition, Page 4 Kessler & Tipper et al, 2000;Caquil, Edmonds, & Taylor, 2000;Lavi, Ro, & Russell, in press;White, 1995). It has been demonstrated that face processing can take place even though faces are ignored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retrieval of implicit inhibitory processes: The impact of visual field, object-identity, and memory dynamics

Kessler¹,

Tipper

2004

Visual Cognition

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After exogenously cueing attention to a peripheral location, the return of attention and response to the location can be inhibited. We demonstrate that these inhibitory mechanisms of attention can be associated with objects and can be automatically and implicitly retrieved over relatively long periods. Furthermore, we also show that when face stimuli are associated with inhibition, the effect is more robust for faces presented in the left visual field. This effect can be even more spatially specific, where most robust inhibition is obtained for faces presented in the upper as compared to the lower visual field. Finally, it is revealed that the inhibition is associated with an object's identity, as inhibition moves with an object to a new location; and that the retrieved inhibition is only transiently present after retrieval.

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Preattentive analysis of facial expressions of emotion

Cited by 97 publications

References 54 publications

Attentional bias to angry faces using the dot-probe task? It depends when you look for it

Attentional bias to angry faces using the dot-probe task? It depends when you look for it

Differential attentional guidance by unattended faces expressing positive and negative emotion

Retrieval of implicit inhibitory processes: The impact of visual field, object-identity, and memory dynamics

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