177
Views
5
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Do emotionally expressive faces automatically capture attention? Evidence from global–local interference

, , , , &
Pages 248-261 | Published online: 27 Feb 2008
 

Abstract

The present experiments investigated whether perception of a global face gestalt automatically interferes with processing of facial features. Upward- and downward-curved arcs were grouped into triplets to resemble faces with positive or negative expressions. The arcs were presented either in a uniform grey colour to facilitate global face perception or in mixed colours where individual arcs were coloured red to reduce global face perception. Experiments 1 and 2 induced a local processing orientation by requiring participants to count individual arc features. Negative face displays yielded slower and less accurate arc counting performance than positive face displays, but only when all arcs were the same colour. In Experiment 3, a global processing orientation was induced by requiring participants to count the number of arc triplets. This time, negative face displays yielded slower reaction times, regardless of feature colour. These results show that interference from emotional face gestalts is not automatic but can be eliminated and may depend on both attentional control settings and “bottom-up” stimulus attributes.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants to JDE and DS from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The first and last authors contributed equally to the present work.

Notes

1It should be noted that the analyses yielded equivalent results even when the data of those 18 participants were not removed.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 238.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.