A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Time course of discrimination between emotional facial expressions: The role of visual saliency
Authors: Calvo MG, Nummenmaa L
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Publication year: 2011
Journal: Vision Research
Journal name in source: VISION RESEARCH
Journal acronym: VISION RES
Volume: 51
Issue: 15
First page : 1751
Last page: 1759
Number of pages: 9
ISSN: 0042-6989
eISSN: 1878-5646
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2011.06.001
Abstract
Saccadic and manual responses were used to investigate the speed of discrimination between happy and non-happy facial expressions in two-alternative-forced-choice tasks. The minimum latencies of correct saccadic responses indicated that the earliest time point at which discrimination occurred ranged between 200 and 280 ms, depending on type of expression. Corresponding minimum latencies for manual responses ranged between 440 and 500 ms. For both response modalities, visual saliency of the mouth region was a critical factor in facilitating discrimination: The more salient the mouth was in happy face targets in comparison with non-happy distracters, the faster discrimination was. Global image characteristics (e.g., luminance) and semantic factors (i.e., categorical similarity and affective valence of expression) made minor or no contribution to discrimination efficiency. This suggests that visual saliency of distinctive facial features, rather than the significance of expression, is used to make both early and later expression discrimination decisions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Saccadic and manual responses were used to investigate the speed of discrimination between happy and non-happy facial expressions in two-alternative-forced-choice tasks. The minimum latencies of correct saccadic responses indicated that the earliest time point at which discrimination occurred ranged between 200 and 280 ms, depending on type of expression. Corresponding minimum latencies for manual responses ranged between 440 and 500 ms. For both response modalities, visual saliency of the mouth region was a critical factor in facilitating discrimination: The more salient the mouth was in happy face targets in comparison with non-happy distracters, the faster discrimination was. Global image characteristics (e.g., luminance) and semantic factors (i.e., categorical similarity and affective valence of expression) made minor or no contribution to discrimination efficiency. This suggests that visual saliency of distinctive facial features, rather than the significance of expression, is used to make both early and later expression discrimination decisions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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