Similarities and differences in attentional shifts induced by face-like objects and averted gaze faces

Abstract

In real life, people perceive non-existent faces from face-like objects, called face pareidolia. Face-like objects can capture the observer’s visual attention and trigger attentional shifts like faces. However, studies do not determine whether attentional shifts induced by face-like objects are stemmed from social or symbolic information. Furthermore, the similarities and differences in the occurrence mechanism of attentional shifts induced by face and face-like objects remain unknown. To investigate this research question, our study used the gaze cueing task to compare the magnitude of cueing effects found in face-like objects and averted gaze faces. Our results suggested that both face-like objects and averted gaze faces triggered attentional shifts, although the underlying mechanisms differed. Specifically, individuals could make attentional shifts via processing local features on both averted gaze faces and face-like objects. However, unlike averted gaze faces, individuals tend to process the holistic features of face-like objects to enhance the subsequent cueing effect. These findings provide new insight into the occurrence mechanisms underlying the perception of face-like objects, and how the brain represents a face even in the absence of physical facial stimuli.