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Faces retain attention

Bindemann, Markus, Burton, A. Mike, Hooge, Ignace T.C., Jenkins, Rob, De Haan, Edward H. F. (2005) Faces retain attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12 (6). pp. 1048-1053. ISSN 1069-9384. (doi:10.3758/BF03206442) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:26196)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03206442

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated whether faces have an advantage in retaining attention over other stimulus categories. In three experiments, subjects were asked to focus on a central go/no-go signal before classifying a concurrently presented peripheral line target. In Experiment 1, the go/no-go signal could be superimposed on photographs of upright famous faces, matching inverted faces, or meaningful objects. Experiments 2 and 3 tested upright and inverted unfamiliar faces, printed names, and another class of meaningful objects in an identical design. A fourth experiment provided a replica- tion of Experiment 1, but with a 1,000-msec stimulus onset asynchrony between the onset of the cen- tral face/nonface stimuli and the peripheral targets. In all the experiments, the presence of an upright face significantly delayed target response times, in comparison with each of the other stimulus cat- egories. These results suggest a general attentional bias, so that it is particularly difficult to disengage processing resources from faces.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.3758/BF03206442
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Markus Bindemann
Date Deposited: 05 Jan 2011 17:23 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/26196 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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