Perceptual averaging of facial expressions requires visual awareness and attention

•Faces seen at the same time appear similar to each other—perceptual averaging.•Basic information (head tilt) can be averaged with limited awareness and attention.•Averaging of complex information (face expression) requires awareness and attention. Humans, as highly social animals, are regularly exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Consciousness and cognition 2018-07, Vol.62, p.110-126
Main Authors: Elias, Elric, Padama, Lauren, Sweeny, Timothy D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention
Awareness, object substitution masking
Consciousness
Conspecifics
Face perception
Orientation
Pattern recognition
Personal development
Self awareness
Visual perception
Visual system
Visualization
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Summary:•Faces seen at the same time appear similar to each other—perceptual averaging.•Basic information (head tilt) can be averaged with limited awareness and attention.•Averaging of complex information (face expression) requires awareness and attention. Humans, as highly social animals, are regularly exposed to the faces of conspecifics—often more than one at a time. This feature of social living is important for understanding face perception, not just because it means that information from faces is available in bulk, but also because it changes the way individuals are perceived. For instance, when two faces are seen nearby one another, they tend to look like each other. This phenomenon of perceptual averaging is robust when both faces are seen and attended. But in everyday life, some faces may not receive the full benefit of attention, or they may not be visible at all. We evaluated whether perceptual averaging of relatively complex and simple information on faces, including facial expression and head orientation, can still occur even in these circumstances. In particular, we used object-substitution masking (OSM) and a dual-task designed to disrupt visual awareness and attention, respectively, during evaluations of briefly presented face pairs. Disruptions of awareness or attention eliminated averaging of facial expression, whereas orientation averaging persisted in spite of these challenges. These results demonstrate boundary conditions for the process of perceptual averaging. More generally, they provide insight into how the visual system processes multitudes of objects, both simple and complex, both with and without attention and awareness.
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.005