Document Detail


Looking away from faces: influence of high-level visual processes on saccade programming.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20377293     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Human faces capture attention more than other visual stimuli. Here we investigated whether such face-specific biases rely on automatic (involuntary) or voluntary orienting responses. To this end, we used an anti-saccade paradigm, which requires the ability to inhibit a reflexive automatic response and to generate a voluntary saccade in the opposite direction of the stimulus. To control for potential low-level confounds in the eye-movement data, we manipulated the high-level visual properties of the stimuli while normalizing their global low-level visual properties. Eye movements were recorded in 21 participants who performed either pro- or anti-saccades to a face, car, or noise pattern, randomly presented to the left or right of a fixation point. For each trial, a symbolic cue instructed the observer to generate either a pro-saccade or an anti-saccade. We report a significant increase in anti-saccade error rates for faces compared to cars and noise patterns, as well as faster pro-saccades to faces and cars in comparison to noise patterns. These results indicate that human faces induce stronger involuntary orienting responses than other visual objects, i.e., responses that are beyond the control of the observer. Importantly, this involuntary processing cannot be accounted for by global low-level visual factors.
Authors:
Stéphanie M Morand; Marie-Hélène Grosbras; Roberto Caldara; Monika Harvey
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2010-03-30
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of vision     Volume:  10     ISSN:  1534-7362     ISO Abbreviation:  J Vis     Publication Date:  2010  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-04-09     Completed Date:  2010-07-12     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101147197     Medline TA:  J Vis     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  16.1-10     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. s.morand@psy.gla.ac.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Attention / physiology*
Face*
Female
Fixation, Ocular / physiology
Form Perception / physiology*
Humans
Male
Orientation / physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods
Reaction Time / physiology
Saccades / physiology*
Young Adult
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
//Medical Research Council

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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