Abstract
Using a visual search paradigm, we investigated how a top-down goal modified attentional bias for threatening facial expressions. In two experiments, participants searched for a facial expression either based on stimulus characteristics or a top-down goal. In Experiment 1, participants searched for a discrepant facial expression in a homogenous crowd of faces. Consistent with previous research, we obtained a shallower response time (RT) slope when the target face was angry than when it was happy. In Experiment 2, participants searched for a specific type of facial expression (allowing a top-down goal). When the display included a target, we found a shallower RT slope for the angry than for the happy face search. However, when an angry or happy face was present in the display in opposition to the task goal, we obtained equivalent RT slopes, suggesting that the mere presence of an angry face in opposition to the task goal did not support the well-known angry face superiority effect. Furthermore, RT distribution analyses supported the special status of an angry face only when it was combined with the top-down goal. On the basis of these results, we suggest that a threatening facial expression may guide attention as a high-priority stimulus in the absence of a specific goal; however, in the presence of a specific goal, the efficiency of facial expression search is dependent on the combined influence of a top-down goal and the stimulus characteristics.
Article PDF
References
Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., &Damasio, A. R. (1998). The human amygdala in social judgment.Nature,393, 470–474.
Brown, S., &Heathcote, A. (2003). QMLE: Fast, robust, and efficient estimation of distribution functions based on quantiles.Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers,35, 485–492.
Eastwood, J. D., Smilek, D., &Merikle, P. M. (2001). Differential attentional guidance by unattended faces expressing positive and negative emotion.Perception & Psychophysics,63, 1004–1013.
Dimberg, U., Thunberg, M., &Elmehed, K. (2000). Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions.Psychological Science,11, 86–89.
Fox, E., Lester, V., Russo, R., Bowles, R. J., Pichler, A., &Dutton, K. (2000). Facial expressions of emotion: Are angry faces detected more efficiently?Cognition & Emotion,14, 61–92.
Fox, E., Russo, R., Bowles, R., &Dutton, K. (2001). Do threatening stimuli draw or hold visual attention in subclinical anxiety?Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,130, 681–700.
Hahn, S., Carlson, C., Singer, S., &Gronlund, S. D. (2006). Aging and visual search: Automatic and controlled attentional bias to threat faces.Acta Psychologica,123, 312–336.
Hansen, C. H., &Hansen, R. D. (1988). Finding the face in the crowd: An anger superiority effect.Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,54, 917–924.
Hockley, W. E., &Corballis, M. C. (1982). Tests of serial scanning in item recognition.Canadian Journal of Psychology,36, 189–212.
LeDoux, J. E. (1996).The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Mather, M., &Carstensen, L. L. (2003). Aging and attentional biases for emotional faces.Psychological Science,14, 409–415.
Mogg, K., &Bradley, B. P. (1999). Orienting of attention to threatening facial expressions presented under conditions of restricted awareness.Cognition & Emotion,13, 713–740.
Morris, J. S., Öhman, A., &Dolan, R. J. (1998). Conscious and unconscious emotional learning in the human amygdala.Nature,393, 467–470.
Nothdurft, H.-C. (1993). Faces and facial expressions do not pop out.Perception,22, 1287–1298.
Öhman, A. (2002). Automaticity and the amygdala: Nonconscious responses to emotional faces.Current Directions in Psychological Science,11, 62–66.
Öhman, A., Lundqvist, D., &Esteves, F. (2001). The face in the crowd revisited: A threat advantage with schematic stimuli.Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,80, 381–396.
Ratcliff, R., &Murdock, B. B., Jr. (1976). Retrieval processes in recognition memory.Psychological Review,83, 190–214.
Townsend, J. T., &Wenger, M. J. (2004). The serial-parallel dilemma: A case study in a linkage of theory and method.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 391–418.
Vuilleumier, P., &Schwartz, S. (2001). Emotional facial expressions capture attention.Neurology,56, 153–158.
Williams, M. A., Moss, S. A., Bradshaw, J. L., &Mattingley, J. B. (2005). Look at me, I’m smiling: Visual search for threatening and nonthreatening facial expressions.Visual Cognition,12, 29–50.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hahn, S., Gronlund, S.D. Top-down guidance in visual search for facial expressions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 14, 159–165 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194044
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194044