Finding an emotional face in a crowd: Emotional and perceptual stimulus factors influence visual search efficiency

Abstract

In this article, we examine how emotional and perceptual stimulus factors influence visual search efficiency. In an initial task, we run a visual search task, using a large number of target/distractor emotion combinations. In two subsequent tasks, we then assess measures of perceptual (rated and computational distances) and emotional (rated valence, arousal and potency) stimulus properties. In a series of regression analyses, we then explore the degree to which target salience (the size of target/distractor dissimilarities) on these emotional and perceptual measures predict the outcome on search efficiency measures (response times and accuracy) from the visual search task. The results show that both emotional and perceptual stimulus salience contribute to visual search efficiency. The results show that among the emotional measures, salience on arousal measures was more influential than valence salience. The importance of the arousal factor may be a contributing factor to contradictory history of results within this field.

Keywords:

• Visual attention
• Visual search
• Perceptual salience
• Arousal
• Valence

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supplementary content is available via the ‘Supplementary’ tab on the article's online page (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.927352).