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Beware the eyes behind the mask: The capture and hold of selective attention by backward masked fearful eyes

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Abstract

Fearful facial expressions are important social indicators of environmental threat. Among the various features of a fearful face, the eyes appear to be particularly important for recognizing and responding to these social cues. One way in which fearful faces facilitate observers’ behavior is by automatically capturing attention. This is true for both consciously and nonconsciously processed fearful faces. Recent research suggests that consciously processed fearful eyes alone are sufficient to capture observers’ attention. However, it is unknown as to whether or not nonconsciously processed, backward masked, fearful eyes are sufficient to facilitate spatial attention. To test this possibility, two dot-probe experiments with masked fearful eye stimuli were performed. In Experiment 1, we found that, relative to scrambled eyes, masked fearful eyes facilitate attentional orienting and delay attentional disengagement. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect when comparing backward masked fearful to neutral eyes. Thus, the data suggest that nonconscious fearful eyes facilitate spatial attention through facilitated orienting and delayed disengagement.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the students in the Cognitive × Affective Behavior and Integrative Neuroscience (CABIN) lab at Northern Michigan University, and in particular Scott Conger and Maggie Hopp, for assisting in the collection of this data.

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This study was not funded by a grant.

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  1. Psychology Department, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI, USA

    Joshua M. Carlson, Robert D. Torrence & Michelle R. Vander Hyde

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  1. Joshua M. Carlson
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  2. Robert D. Torrence
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  3. Michelle R. Vander Hyde
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Correspondence to Joshua M. Carlson.

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Joshua M. Carlson declares that he has no conflict of interest. Robert D. Torrence declares that he has no conflict of interest. Michelle R. Vander Hyde declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in our studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Carlson, J.M., Torrence, R.D. & Vander Hyde, M.R. Beware the eyes behind the mask: The capture and hold of selective attention by backward masked fearful eyes. Motiv Emot 40, 498–505 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-016-9542-1

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