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Dixson BJW, Spiers T, Miller PA, Sidari MJ, Nelson NL, Craig BM. Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5911. [PMID: 35396450 PMCID: PMC8993935 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09397-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Human visual systems have evolved to extract ecologically relevant information from complex scenery. In some cases, the face in the crowd visual search task demonstrates an anger superiority effect, where anger is allocated preferential attention. Across three studies (N = 419), we tested whether facial hair guides attention in visual search and influences the speed of detecting angry and happy facial expressions in large arrays of faces. In Study 1, participants were faster to search through clean-shaven crowds and detect bearded targets than to search through bearded crowds and detect clean-shaven targets. In Study 2, targets were angry and happy faces presented in neutral backgrounds. Facial hair of the target faces was also manipulated. An anger superiority effect emerged that was augmented by the presence of facial hair, which was due to the slower detection of happiness on bearded faces. In Study 3, targets were happy and angry faces presented in either bearded or clean-shaven backgrounds. Facial hair of the background faces was also systematically manipulated. A significant anger superiority effect was revealed, although this was not moderated by the target's facial hair. Rather, the anger superiority effect was larger in clean-shaven than bearded face backgrounds. Together, results suggest that facial hair does influence detection of emotional expressions in visual search, however, rather than facilitating an anger superiority effect as a potential threat detection system, facial hair may reduce detection of happy faces within the face in the crowd paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barnaby J W Dixson
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia.
- School of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, 4502, Australia.
| | - Tamara Spiers
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | - Paul A Miller
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | - Morgan J Sidari
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
| | - Nicole L Nelson
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia
- School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
| | - Belinda M Craig
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia
- Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Robina, QLD, 4229, Australia
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Abstract
The magnitude associated with a stimulus can be spatially connoted, with relatively smaller and larger magnitudes that would be represented on the left and on the right side of space, respectively. According to recent evidence, this space–magnitude association could reflect specific brain asymmetries. In this study, we explored whether such an association can also emerge for face age, assuming that responders should represent relatively younger and older adult faces on the left and on the right, respectively. A sample of young adults performed a speeded binary classification task aimed at categorising the age of a centrally placed adult face stimulus as either younger or older than the age of a reference face. A left-side and a right-side response key were used to collect manual responses. Overall, older faces were categorised faster than younger faces, and response latencies decreased with the absolute difference between the age of the target stimulus and the age of the reference, in line with a distance effect. However, no evidence of a left-to-right spatial representation of face age emerged. Taken together, these results suggest that face age is mapped onto space differently from other magnitudes.
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Craig BM, Thorne EM. Social categorization and individuation in the own‐age bias. Br J Psychol 2019; 110:635-651. [DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Revised: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Belinda M. Craig
- School of Psychology Curtin University Bentley Western Australia Australia
- School of Psychology and Behavioural Science University of New England Armidale New South Wales Australia
| | - Emily M. Thorne
- School of Psychology Curtin University Bentley Western Australia Australia
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