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Grave J, Madeira N, Morais S, Rodrigues P, Soares SC. Emotional interference and attentional control in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: The special case of neutral faces. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2023; 81:101892. [PMID: 37429124 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2022] [Revised: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) are characterized by impaired emotion processing and attention. SSD patients are more sensitive to the presence of emotional distractors. But despite growing interest on the emotion-attention interplay, emotional interference in SSD is far from fully understood. Moreover, research to date has not established the link between emotional interference and attentional control in SSD. This study thus aimed to investigate the effects of facial expression and attentional control in SSD, by manipulating perceptual load. METHODS Twenty-two SSD patients and 22 healthy controls performed a target-letter discrimination task with task-irrelevant angry, happy, and neutral faces. Target-letter was presented among homogenous (low load) or heterogenous (high load) distractor-letters. Accuracy and RT were analysed using (generalized) linear mixed-effect models. RESULTS Accuracy was significantly lower in SSD patients than controls, regardless of perceptual load and facial expression. Concerning RT, SSD patients were significantly slower than controls in the presence of neutral faces, but only at high load. No group differences were observed for angry and happy faces. LIMITATIONS Heterogeneity of SSD, small sample size, lack of clinical control group, medication. CONCLUSIONS One possible explanation is that neutral faces captured exogenous attention to a greater extent in SSD, thus challenging attentional control in perceptually demanding conditions. This may reflect abnormal processing of neutral faces in SSD. If replicated, these findings will help to understand the interplay between exogenous attention, attentional control, and emotion processing in SSD, which may unravel the mechanism underlying socioemotional dysfunction in SSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Grave
- William James Center for Research (WJCR-Aveiro), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS@RISE), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Nuno Madeira
- Psychiatry Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Psychological Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal; CIBIT-Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal; CACC-Clinical Academic Center of Coimbra, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Sofia Morais
- Psychiatry Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Psychological Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal; CIBIT-Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal; CACC-Clinical Academic Center of Coimbra, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Paulo Rodrigues
- Department of Psychology and Education, University of Beira Interior, Estrada do Sineiro, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal
| | - Sandra C Soares
- William James Center for Research (WJCR-Aveiro), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
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Montalti M, Mirabella G. Unveiling the influence of task-relevance of emotional faces on behavioral reactions in a multi-face context using a novel Flanker-Go/No-go task. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20183. [PMID: 37978229 PMCID: PMC10656465 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47385-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent research indicates that emotional faces affect motor control only when task-relevant. However, these studies utilized a single-face presentation, which does not accurately mirror real-life situations wherein we frequently engage with multiple individuals simultaneously. To overcome this limitation, we gave 40 participants two versions of a novel Flanker-Go/No-go task, where we presented three-face stimuli with a central target and two task-irrelevant flankers that could be congruent or incongruent with the target for valence and gender. In the Emotional Discrimination Task (EDT), participants had to respond to fearful or happy targets and refrain from moving with neutral ones. In the Gender Discrimination Task (GDT), the same images were shown, but participants had to respond according to the target's gender. In line with previous studies, we found an effect of valence only in EDT, where fearful targets increased reaction times and omission error rates compared to happy faces. Notably, the flanker effect, i.e., slower and less accurate responses in incongruent than congruent conditions, was not found. This likely stems from the higher perceptual complexity of faces than that of stimuli traditionally used in the Eriksen Flanker task (letters or signs), leading to a capacity limit in face feature processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Montalti
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Brescia University, Viale Europa, 11, 25123, Brescia, Italy
| | - Giovanni Mirabella
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Brescia University, Viale Europa, 11, 25123, Brescia, Italy.
- IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy.
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3
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Qarooni R, Prunty J, Bindemann M, Jenkins R. Capacity limits in face detection. Cognition 2022; 228:105227. [PMID: 35872362 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Face detection is a prerequisite for further face processing, such as extracting identity or semantic information. Those later processes appear to be subject to strict capacity limits, but the location of the bottleneck is unclear. In particular, it is not known whether the bottleneck occurs before or after face detection. Here we present a novel test of capacity limits in face detection. Across four behavioural experiments, we assessed detection of multiple faces via observers' ability to differentiate between two types of display. Fixed displays comprised items of the same type (all faces or all non-faces). Mixed displays combined faces and non-faces. Critically, a 'fixed' response requires all items to be processed. We found that additional faces could be detected with no cost to efficiency, and that this capacity-free performance was contingent on visual context. The observed pattern was not specific to faces, but detection was more efficient for faces overall. Our findings suggest that strict capacity limits in face perception occur after the detection step.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rana Qarooni
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
| | | | | | - Rob Jenkins
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK.
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4
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Manini G, Botta F, Martín-Arévalo E, Ferrari V, Lupiáñez J. Attentional Capture From Inside vs. Outside the Attentional Focus. Front Psychol 2021; 12:758747. [PMID: 34819898 PMCID: PMC8606668 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.758747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we jointly reported in an empirical and a theoretical way, for the first time, two main theories: Lavie's perceptual load theory and Gaspelin et al.'s attentional dwelling hypothesis. These theories explain in different ways the modulation of the perceptual load/task difficulty over attentional capture by irrelevant distractors and lead to the observation of the opposite results with similar manipulations. We hypothesized that these opposite results may critically depend on the distractor type used by the two experimental procedures (i.e., distractors inside vs. outside the attentional focus, which could be, respectively, considered as potentially relevant vs. completely irrelevant to the main task). Across a series of experiments, we compared both theories within the same paradigm by manipulating both the perceptual load/task difficulty and the distractor type. The results were strongly consistent, suggesting that the influence of task demands on attentional capture varies as a function of the distractor type: while the interference from (relevant) distractors presented inside the attentional focus was consistently higher for high vs. low load conditions, there was no modulation by (irrelevant) distractors presented outside the attentional focus. Moreover, we critically analyzed the theoretical conceptualization of interference using both theories, disentangling important outcomes for the dwelling hypothesis. Our results provide specific insights into new aspects of attentional capture, which can critically redefine these two predominant theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Manini
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Fabiano Botta
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Elisa Martín-Arévalo
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Vera Ferrari
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Juan Lupiáñez
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
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5
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Forster S, Lavie N. Faces are not always special for attention: Effects of response-relevance and identity. Vision Res 2021; 189:1-10. [PMID: 34488066 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Research over the past 25 years indicates that stimulus processing is diminished when attention is engaged in a perceptually demanding task of high 'perceptual load'. These results have generalized across a variety of stimulus categories, but a controversy evolved over the question of whether perception of distractor faces (or other categories of perceptual expertise) can proceed irrespective of the level of perceptual load in the attended task. Here we identify task-relevance, and in particular identity-relevance, as a potentially important factor in explaining prior inconsistencies. In four experiments, we tested whether perceptual load in an attended letter or word task modulates the processing of famous face distractors, while varying their task-relevance. Distractor interference effects on task RTs was reduced by perceptual load not only when the faces were entirely task-irrelevant, but also when the face gender was task relevant, within a name gender classification response-competition task, using famous female or male distractor faces. However, when the identity associated with the famous faces was primed by the task using their names, as in prior demonstrations that face distractors are immune to the effects of perceptual load, we were able to replicate these prior findings. Our findings demonstrate a role for identity-priming by the relevant task in determining attentional capture by faces under high perceptual load. Our results also highlight the importance of considering even relatively subtle forms of task-relevance in selective attention research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nilli Lavie
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience University College London, UK
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6
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Tillmann J, Tuomainen J, Swettenham J. The Effect of Visual Perceptual Load on Auditory Awareness of Social vs. Non-social Stimuli in Individuals with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2021; 51:1028-1038. [PMID: 32613484 PMCID: PMC7985111 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-020-04587-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This study examined the effect of increasing visual perceptual load on auditory awareness for social and non-social stimuli in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 63) and typically developing (TD, n = 62) adolescents. Using an inattentional deafness paradigm, a socially meaningful ('Hi') or a non-social (neutral tone) critical stimulus (CS) was unexpectedly presented under high and low load. For the social CS both groups continued to show high awareness rates as load increased. Awareness rates for the non-social stimulus were reduced when load increased for the TD, but not the ASD group. The findings indicate enhanced capacity for non-social stimuli in ASD compared to TD, and a special attentional status for social stimuli in the TD group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Tillmann
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
- Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement, and Intervention, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Jyrki Tuomainen
- Speech, Hearing & Phonetic Sciences, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - John Swettenham
- Department of Language and Cognition, University College London, London, UK
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Miller CB, Robertson DJ, Johnson KA, Lovato N, Bartlett DJ, Grunstein RR, Gordon CJ. Tired and lack focus? Insomnia increases distractibility. J Health Psychol 2019; 26:795-804. [DOI: 10.1177/1359105319842927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic insomnia is associated with subjective daytime cognitive dysfunction, but objective corroborative data are often lacking. In this study, we use Perceptual Load Theory to objectively assess distractibility in participants with insomnia ( N = 23) compared with age- and sex-matched controls ( N = 23). Following overnight supervised sleep observation, all participants completed a selective attention task which varied in the level of perceptual load and distractor congruency. The insomnia group was found to be more distracted than controls, whereas their selective attention mechanism appeared to be intact, with reduced distractor processing under high load for both groups. Insomnia symptom severity was positively correlated with participant distractibility. These findings suggest that there are insomnia-related daytime cognitive impairments that are likely to arise from compromised cognitive control rather than an ineffective selective attention mechanism. This task may be clinically useful in assessing daytime impairments, and potentially treatment response, in those with insomnia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher B Miller
- CIRUS, Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - David J Robertson
- School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Keith A Johnson
- CIRUS, Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Nicole Lovato
- Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, A Flinders Centre of Research Excellence, Flinders University of South Australia
- CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Delwyn J Bartlett
- CIRUS, Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Ronald R Grunstein
- CIRUS, Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Christopher J Gordon
- CIRUS, Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
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8
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Thoma V, De Fockert JW. Three-Quarter Views of Depth-Rotated Faces Induce Face-Specific Capacity Limits in Visual Search. Exp Psychol 2018; 65:360-369. [DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. Participants made speeded categorization decisions regarding a famous person (politician or film star) accompanied by a peripheral distracter face (either the same or from the opposite category). The first experiment found that processing a peripheral distracter face is independent of load when the search set contains name strings. The search set in the second experiment consisted of faces. Interference effects between the target and distracter face (both shown in frontal views) were found when no additional non-target faces were present (low load), but not when two non-famous faces (high load) accompanied the target face, even when the latter were shown in three-quarter views. These results indicate that face-specific capacity limitations are independent of changes in view (up to 45°) and gaze direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Volker Thoma
- School of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
| | - Jan W. De Fockert
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
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10
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Greene CM, Murphy G, Januszewski J. Under High Perceptual Load, Observers Look but Do Not See. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ciara M. Greene
- School of Psychology; University College Dublin; Dublin Ireland
| | - Gillian Murphy
- School of Applied Psychology; University College Cork; Cork Ireland
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11
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Murphy G, Greene CM. Visual feature vs. conjunction searches as a robust manipulation of perceptual load. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2016.1256888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gillian Murphy
- School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Ciara M. Greene
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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12
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Thoma V, Ward N, de Fockert JW. Misaligned and Polarity-Reversed Faces Determine Face-specific Capacity Limits. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1470. [PMID: 27729889 PMCID: PMC5037134 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research using flanker paradigms suggests that peripheral distracter faces are automatically processed when participants have to classify a single central familiar target face. These distracter interference effects disappear when the central task contains additional anonymous (non-target) faces that load the search for the face target, but not when the central task contains additional non-face stimuli, suggesting there are face-specific capacity limits in visual processing. Here we tested whether manipulating the format of non-target faces in the search task affected face-specific capacity limits. Experiment 1 replicated earlier findings that a distracter face is processed even in high load conditions when participants looked for a target name of a famous person among additional names (non-targets) in a central search array. Two further experiments show that when targets and non-targets were faces (instead of names), however, distracter interference was eliminated under high load—adding non-target faces to the search array exhausted processing capacity for peripheral faces. The novel finding was that replacing non-target faces with images that consisted of two horizontally misaligned face-parts reduced distracter processing. Similar results were found when the polarity of a non-target face image was reversed. These results indicate that face-specific capacity limits are not determined by the configural properties of face processing, but by face parts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Volker Thoma
- School of Psychology, University of East London London, UK
| | - Neil Ward
- School of Psychology, University of East London London, UK
| | - Jan W de Fockert
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London London, UK
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13
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Identifying visual targets amongst interfering distractors: Sorting out the roles of perceptual load, dilution, and attentional zoom. Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 78:1822-38. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-016-1149-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Valuch C, Pflüger LS, Wallner B, Laeng B, Ansorge U. Using eye tracking to test for individual differences in attention to attractive faces. Front Psychol 2015; 6:42. [PMID: 25698993 PMCID: PMC4313586 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2014] [Accepted: 01/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We assessed individual differences in visual attention toward faces in relation to their attractiveness via saccadic reaction times. Motivated by the aim to understand individual differences in attention to faces, we tested three hypotheses: (a) Attractive faces hold or capture attention more effectively than less attractive faces; (b) men show a stronger bias toward attractive opposite-sex faces than women; and (c) blue-eyed men show a stronger bias toward blue-eyed than brown-eyed feminine faces. The latter test was included because prior research suggested a high effect size. Our data supported hypotheses (a) and (b) but not (c). By conducting separate tests for disengagement of attention and attention capture, we found that individual differences exist at distinct stages of attentional processing but these differences are of varying robustness and importance. In our conclusion, we also advocate the use of linear mixed effects models as the most appropriate statistical approach for studying inter-individual differences in visual attention with naturalistic stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Valuch
- Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria ; Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Lena S Pflüger
- Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria ; Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Bernard Wallner
- Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria ; Department of Behavioural Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo Oslo, Norway
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
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Face-specific capacity limits under perceptual load do not depend on holistic processing. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 21:1473-80. [PMID: 24793680 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0633-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Previous observations that face recognition may proceed automatically, without drawing on attentional resources, have been challenged by recent demonstrations that only a few faces can be processed at one time. However, a question remains about the nature of the stimulus properties that underlie face-specific capacity limits. Two experiments showed that speeded categorization of a famous face (such as a politician or pop star) is facilitated when it is congruent with a peripheral distractor face. This congruency effect is eliminated if the visual search is loaded with more than one face, unlike previous demonstrations of speeded classification using semantic information. Importantly, congruency effects are also eliminated when the search task is loaded with nontarget faces that are shown in an inverted orientation. These results indicate that face-specific capacity limits are not determined by the configural ("holistic") properties of face recognition.
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