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Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research 2/2015

01-03-2015 | Original Article

Local feature suppression effect in face and non-face stimuli

Auteurs: Artyom Zinchenko, Hyojung Kim, Adrian Danek, Hermann J. Müller, Dragan Rangelov

Gepubliceerd in: Psychological Research | Uitgave 2/2015

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Abstract

There is evidence that the cognitive system processes human faces faster and more precisely than other stimuli. Also, faces summon visual attention in an automatic manner, as evidenced by efficient, ‘pop-out’ search for face targets amongst homogeneous non-face distractors. Pop-out for faces implies that faces are processed as a basic visual ‘feature’ by specialized face-tuned detectors, similar to the coding of other features (e.g., color, orientation, motion, etc.). However, it is unclear whether such face detectors encode only the global face configuration or both global and local face features. If the former were correct, the face detectors should be unable to support search for a local face feature, rendering search slower relative to non-face stimuli; that is, there would be local feature suppression (LFS) for faces. If the latter was the case, there should be no difference in the processing of local and, respectively, global face features. In two experiments, participants discerned the presence (vs. absence) of a local target defined as a part of either a normal or a scrambled (schematic or realistic) face or of a non-face (Kanizsa diamond or realistic house) configuration. The results consistently showed a robust LFS effect in both reaction times and error rates for face stimuli, and either no difference or even a local feature enhancement effect for the control stimuli. Taken together, these findings indicate that faces are encoded as a basic visual feature by means of globally tuned face detectors.
Voetnoten
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Furthermore, since previous studies (e.g., Kanwisher, Tong, & Nakayama, 1998; Murray, 2002; Richler, Mack, Palmeri, & Gauthier, 2011), showed that some components of face processing are relatively unaffected by inversion using inverted faces would have rendered our paradigm less sensitive. For example, Kanwisher et al. (1998) showed that inverted faces still activate face-specific FFA, while non-face objects (in whatever orientation) do not, suggesting that inverted faces still engage face-specific brain mechanisms.
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
Local feature suppression effect in face and non-face stimuli
Auteurs
Artyom Zinchenko
Hyojung Kim
Adrian Danek
Hermann J. Müller
Dragan Rangelov
Publicatiedatum
01-03-2015
Uitgeverij
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Gepubliceerd in
Psychological Research / Uitgave 2/2015
Print ISSN: 0340-0727
Elektronisch ISSN: 1430-2772
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-014-0548-6

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