A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Recognition advantage of happy faces in extrafoveal vision: Featural and affective processing
Authors: Calvo MG, Nummenmaa L, Avero P
Publisher: PSYCHOLOGY PRESS
Publication year: 2010
Journal: Visual Cognition
Journal name in source: VISUAL COGNITION
Journal acronym: VIS COGN
Article number: PII 923432556
Volume: 18
Issue: 9
First page : 1274
Last page: 1297
Number of pages: 24
ISSN: 1350-6285
eISSN: 1464-0716
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2010.481867
Abstract
Happy, surprised, disgusted, angry, sad, fearful, and neutral facial expressions were presented extrafoveally (2.5 degrees away from fixation) for 150 ms, followed by a probe word for recognition (Experiment 1) or a probe scene for affective valence evaluation (Experiment 2). Eye movements were recorded and gaze-contingent masking prevented foveal viewing of the faces. Results showed that (a) happy expressions were recognized faster than others in the absence of fixations on the faces, (b) the same pattern emerged when the faces were presented upright or upside-down, (c) happy prime faces facilitated the affective evaluation of emotionally congruent probe scenes, and (d) such priming effects occurred at 750 but not at 250 ms prime-probe stimulus-onset asynchrony. This reveals an advantage in the recognition of happy faces outside of overt visual attention, and suggests that this recognition advantage relies initially on featural processing and involves processing of positive affect at a later stage.
Happy, surprised, disgusted, angry, sad, fearful, and neutral facial expressions were presented extrafoveally (2.5 degrees away from fixation) for 150 ms, followed by a probe word for recognition (Experiment 1) or a probe scene for affective valence evaluation (Experiment 2). Eye movements were recorded and gaze-contingent masking prevented foveal viewing of the faces. Results showed that (a) happy expressions were recognized faster than others in the absence of fixations on the faces, (b) the same pattern emerged when the faces were presented upright or upside-down, (c) happy prime faces facilitated the affective evaluation of emotionally congruent probe scenes, and (d) such priming effects occurred at 750 but not at 250 ms prime-probe stimulus-onset asynchrony. This reveals an advantage in the recognition of happy faces outside of overt visual attention, and suggests that this recognition advantage relies initially on featural processing and involves processing of positive affect at a later stage.
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