Title |
Conscious awareness is required for holistic face processing
|
---|---|
Published in |
Consciousness & Cognition, June 2014
|
DOI | 10.1016/j.concog.2014.05.004 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Vadim Axelrod, Geraint Rees |
Abstract |
Investigating the limits of unconscious processing is essential to understand the function of consciousness. Here, we explored whether holistic face processing, a mechanism believed to be important for face processing in general, can be accomplished unconsciously. Using a novel "eyes-face" stimulus we tested whether discrimination of pairs of eyes was influenced by the surrounding face context. While the eyes were fully visible, the faces that provided context could be rendered invisible through continuous flash suppression. Two experiments with three different sets of face stimuli and a subliminal learning procedure converged to show that invisible faces did not influence perception of visible eyes. In contrast, surrounding faces, when they were clearly visible, strongly influenced perception of the eyes. Thus, we conclude that conscious awareness might be a prerequisite for holistic face processing. |
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United States | 3 | 23% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 23% |
Brazil | 1 | 8% |
Australia | 1 | 8% |
Unknown | 5 | 38% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Members of the public | 10 | 77% |
Scientists | 1 | 8% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 8% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 8% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
Sweden | 1 | 1% |
Poland | 1 | 1% |
France | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 92 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 20 | 21% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 16 | 17% |
Researcher | 13 | 14% |
Student > Bachelor | 8 | 8% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 6% |
Other | 20 | 21% |
Unknown | 13 | 14% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 45 | 47% |
Neuroscience | 18 | 19% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 5 | 5% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 3% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 2 | 2% |
Other | 7 | 7% |
Unknown | 16 | 17% |