The face-in-the-crowd effect: Threat detection versus isofeature suppression and collinear facilitation

Journal of Vision

article

Matthew J. Kennett¹  Guy Wallis¹ 

[1] Centre for Sensorimotor Performance, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland

关键词: face-in-the-crowd;    visual search;    salience;    attention;    primary visual cortex (V1);   

DOI  :  10.1167/19.7.6

来源: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

【 摘 要 】

Are people biologically prepared for the rapid detectionof threat posed by an angry facial expression, even whenit is conveyed in the form of a schematic line drawing?Based on visual search times, the current literaturewould suggest that the answer is yes. But are there lowlevel explanations for this effect? Here, we presentvisual search results for schematic faces using currentbest practice, based on a concentric search array and setsize manipulation. Using this approach, we replicate theclassic search advantage for angry over happy faces.However, we also report a comparable effect whenabstract plus- and square-shaped stimuli—derived fromthe angry and happy schematic faces respectively—areused within the same paradigm. We then go on todemonstrate that, while reduced, the effect remainsafter removal of the circular surround, bringing us closerto the source of the effect. We explore the possibilitythat the source of this search asymmetry could be theiso-feature suppression and collinear facilitation modelproposed in Li’s (1999a, 1999b, and 2002) bottom-upmodel of saliency. Simulations with this model using theabstract stimuli align with the corresponding behavioralresults (i.e., the plus shape was found to be more salientthan the square). Given the deliberate similaritiesbetween these abstract shapes and the respective facestimuli, we propose that the underlying cause for theasymmetries typically found using schematic faces, maybe more related to early visual processing of lineorientation than threat detection.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC BY-NC-ND