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Face, body and centre of gravity mediate person detection in natural scenes

Bindemann, Markus, Scheepers, Christoph, Ferguson, Heather J., Burton, A. Mike (2010) Face, body and centre of gravity mediate person detection in natural scenes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36 (6). pp. 1477-1485. ISSN 0096-1523. (doi:10.1037/a0019057) (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:26123)

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/10.1037/a0019057

Abstract

Person detection is an important prerequisite of social interaction, but is not well understood. Following suggestions that people in the visual field can capture a viewer’s attention, this study examines the role of the face and the body for person detection in natural scenes. We observed that viewers tend first to look at the center of a scene, and only then to fixate on a person. When a person’s face was rendered invisible in scenes, bodies were detected as quickly as faces without bodies, indicating that both are equally useful for person detection. Detection was optimized when face and body could be seen, but observers preferentially fixated faces, reinforcing the notion of a prominent role for the face in social perception. These findings have implications for claims of attention capture by faces in that they demonstrate a mediating influence of body cues and general scanning principles in natural scenes.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1037/a0019057
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Heather Ferguson
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2010 10:49 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/26123 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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