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Yang F, Tian J, Yuan P, Liu C, Zhang X, Yang L, Jiang Y. Unconscious and Conscious Gaze-Triggered Attentional Orienting: Distinguishing Innate and Acquired Components of Social Attention in Children and Adults with Autistic Traits and Autism Spectrum Disorders. RESEARCH (WASHINGTON, D.C.) 2024; 7:0417. [PMID: 38988610 PMCID: PMC11233194 DOI: 10.34133/research.0417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Typically developing (TD) individuals can readily orient attention according to others' eye-gaze direction, an ability known as social attention, which involves both innate and acquired components. To distinguish between these two components, we used a critical flicker fusion technique to render gaze cues invisible to participants, thereby largely reducing influences from consciously acquired strategies. Results revealed that both visible and invisible gaze cues could trigger attentional orienting in TD adults (aged 20 to 30 years) and children (aged 6 to 12 years). Intriguingly, only the ability to involuntarily respond to invisible gaze cues was negatively correlated with autistic traits among all TD participants. This ability was substantially impaired in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and in children with high autistic traits. No such association or reduction was observed with visible gaze cues. These findings provide compelling evidence for the functional demarcation of conscious and unconscious gaze-triggered attentional orienting that emerges early in life and develops into adulthood, shedding new light on the differentiation of the innate and acquired aspects of social attention. Moreover, they contribute to a comprehensive understanding of social endophenotypes of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
- Department of Psychology and College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Junbin Tian
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Peijun Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
- Department of Psychology and College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Chunyan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
- Department of Psychology and College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
- School of Education and Psychology, University of Jinan, Jinan, P.R. China
| | - Xinyuan Zhang
- School of New Media, Financial & Economic News, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, P.R. China
| | - Li Yang
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
- Department of Psychology and College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China
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Dalmaso M, Galfano G, Castelli L. Testing the effects of gaze distractors with invariant spatial direction on attention cueing. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:1544-1554. [PMID: 37715633 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231203963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
In four experiments, we tested the boundary conditions of gaze cueing with reference to the resistance to suppression criterion of automaticity. Participants were asked to respond to peripheral targets preceded by a central gaze stimulus. Under one condition, gaze direction was random and uninformative with respect to target location (intermixed condition), as in the typical paradigm. Under another condition, gaze direction was uninformative and, crucially, it was also kept constant throughout the sequence of trials (blocked condition). In so doing, we aimed at maximally reducing the informative value of the gaze stimulus because gaze would not only be task-irrelevant but would also provide no sudden and unpredictable information. Across the four experiments, the results showed a strong gaze-cueing effect. More specifically, a comparable gaze cueing emerged under the blocked and intermixed conditions. These findings are consistent with the idea that gaze cueing is resistant to suppression and are discussed in relation to current views of the automaticity of gaze cueing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Dalmaso M, Castelli L, Bernardini C, Galfano G. Can masked gaze and arrow stimuli elicit overt orienting of attention? A registered report. Conscious Cogn 2023; 109:103476. [PMID: 36774882 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103476] [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: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Viewing an averted gaze can elicit saccades towards the corresponding location. Here, the automaticity of this gaze-following behaviour phenomenon was further tested by exploring whether such an effect can be detected in response to briefly-presented masked averted gazes. Participants completed an oculomotor interference task consisting of making leftward/rightward saccades according to a symbolic instruction cue. Crucially, either a task-irrelevant averted-gaze face or an arrow (i.e., a non-social control stimulus) was also presented in different blocks of trials. Faces and arrows were presented for either 1000 ms, or 8 ms and then backward-masked, to reduce the likelihood of conscious processing. Worse oculomotor performance emerged when the saccade direction did not match (vs match) that suggested by the task-irrelevant gaze/arrow stimuli in the unmasked condition. However, in the masked condition, no oculomotor interference occurred for any task-irrelevant stimulus. Results enrich knowledge about boundary conditions for gaze/arrow-driven orienting using ecological attention measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Chiara Bernardini
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
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Schütz C, Güldenpenning I, Koester D, Schack T. Social cues can impact complex behavior unconsciously. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21017. [PMID: 33273521 PMCID: PMC7712880 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77646-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
In three experiments, we investigated the effect of unconscious social priming on human behavior in a choice reaction time task. Photographs of a basketball player passing a ball to the left/right were used as target stimuli. Participants had to respond to the pass direction either by a whole-body (complex) response or a button-press (simple) response. Visually masked stimuli, showing both a task-relevant cue (pass direction) and a task-irrelevant, social cue (gaze direction), were used as primes. Subliminal social priming was found for kinematic (center of pressure) and chronometric measures (response times): gaze direction in the primes affected responses to the pass direction in the targets. The social priming effect diminished when gaze information was unhelpful or even detrimental to the task. Social priming of a complex behavior does not require awareness or intentionality, indicating automatic processing. Nevertheless, it can be controlled by top-down, strategic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Schütz
- Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany.
| | | | - Dirk Koester
- Faculty Business and Management, BSP Business School Berlin, 12247, Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Schack
- Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany.,Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, 33619, Bielefeld, Germany.,Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab), Bielefeld University, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
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5
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How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 83:215-237. [PMID: 33135097 PMCID: PMC7875945 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Human eye gaze conveys an enormous amount of socially relevant information, and the rapid assessment of gaze direction is of particular relevance in order to adapt behavior accordingly. Specifically, previous research demonstrated evidence for an advantage of processing direct (vs. averted) gaze. The present study examined discrimination performance for gaze direction (direct vs. averted) under controlled presentation conditions: Using a backward-masking gaze-discrimination task, photographs of faces with direct and averted gaze were briefly presented, followed by a mask stimulus. Additionally, effects of facial context on gaze discrimination were assessed by either presenting gaze direction in isolation (i.e., by only showing the eye region) or in the context of an upright or inverted face. Across three experiments, we consistently observed a facial context effect with highest discrimination performance for faces presented in upright position, lower performance for inverted faces, and lowest performance for eyes presented in isolation. Additionally, averted gaze was generally responded to faster and with higher accuracy than direct gaze, indicating an averted-gaze advantage. Overall, the results suggest that direct gaze is not generally associated with processing advantages, thereby highlighting the important role of presentation conditions and task demands in gaze perception.
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Kou H, Gong N, Yu W, Xie Q, Bi T. Visual Attentional Bias Induced by Face Direction. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1089. [PMID: 32528391 PMCID: PMC7264406 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01089] [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: 03/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The effect of spatial cueing on eye gaze has been confirmed by a large number of studies, but the effect of spatial cueing on face direction and the impact of eye gaze on this effect are less known. In four experiments, we investigated the attentional bias induced by face direction. A modified paradigm of spatial cueing was adopted with stimuli that were static faces rotated by 90 or 45° to the left or right from the frontal view. To control the effect of eyes, face stimuli with eyes open and those with eyes closed were both used in each experiment. In Experiment 1, the facial cue (face rotated by 90°) and target were presented simultaneously, and the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the facial cue and target was set to be 300, 600, and 900 ms in Experiments 2 (face rotated by 90°), 3 (inverted face rotated by 90°), and 4 (face rotated by 45°), respectively. The response time of detecting the target position was recorded. The spatial cueing effects were nonsignificant in Experiment 1, in which the cue and target were presented simultaneously. However, significant spatial cueing effects of face direction were found in Experiments 2 and 3, in which the upright and inverted faces rotated by 90° were adopted, respectively, in both the eyes open and eyes closed conditions. In addition, we did not find an effect of spatial cueing with the face rotated by 45° (Experiment 4). Our results indicate that face direction can bias visual attention. This effect might not be based on the holistic processing of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Kou
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
| | - Nanling Gong
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
| | - Wenyu Yu
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
| | - Qinhong Xie
- School of Criminal Justice, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China
| | - Taiyong Bi
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
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7
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Kou H, Xie Q, Bi T. Mechanisms for the Cognitive Processing of Attractiveness in Adult and Infant Faces: From the Evolutionary Perspective. Front Psychol 2020; 11:436. [PMID: 32218762 PMCID: PMC7078348 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness has mainly focused on adult faces. Recent studies have revealed that the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness in infant faces is not the same as that in adult faces. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the evidence on the processing of facial attractiveness in each kind of face and compare their underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we first reviewed studies on the cognitive processing of facial attractiveness in adult faces, including attentional and mnemonic processing, and then discussed the underlying mechanisms. Afterward, studies on facial attractiveness in infant faces were reviewed, and the underlying mechanisms were also discussed. Direct comparisons between the two kinds of cognitive processing were subsequently made. The results showed that the mechanisms for the processing of attractiveness in adult faces and infant faces are mainly motivated by the perspectives of mate selection and raising offspring, respectively, in evolutionary psychology. Finally, directions for future research are proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Kou
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
| | - Qinhong Xie
- School of Criminal Justice, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China
| | - Taiyong Bi
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou, China
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8
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Liu J, Shi Y, Whitaker L, Tian Y, Hu Z. Facial expressions modulate the gaze orienting effect on sound localization judgement. VISUAL COGNITION 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2019.1606128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jinmeng Liu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yahuan Shi
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Lydia Whitaker
- Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Yu Tian
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhonghua Hu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, People’s Republic of China
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Uono S, Sato W, Sawada R, Kochiyama T, Toichi M. Spatiotemporal commonalities of fronto-parietal activation in attentional orienting triggered by supraliminal and subliminal gaze cues: An event-related potential study. Biol Psychol 2018; 136:29-38. [PMID: 29733867 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2017] [Revised: 02/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/04/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Eye gaze triggers attentional shifts with and without conscious awareness. It remains unclear whether the spatiotemporal patterns of electric neural activity are the same for conscious and unconscious attentional shifts. Thus, the present study recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and evaluated the neural activation involved in attentional orienting induced by subliminal and supraliminal gaze cues. Nonpredictive gaze cues were presented in the central field of vision, and participants were asked to detect a subsequent peripheral target. The mean reaction time was shorter for congruent gaze cues than for incongruent gaze cues under both presentation conditions, indicating that both types of cues reliably trigger attentional orienting. The ERP analysis revealed that averted versus straight gaze induced greater negative deflection in the bilateral fronto-central and temporal regions between 278 and 344 ms under both supraliminal and subliminal presentation conditions. Supraliminal cues, irrespective of gaze direction, induced a greater negative amplitude than did subliminal cues at the right posterior cortices at a peak of approximately 170 ms and in the 200-300 ms. These results suggest that similar spatial and temporal fronto-parietal activity is involved in attentional orienting triggered by both supraliminal and subliminal gaze cues, although inputs from different visual processing routes (cortical and subcortical regions) may trigger activity in the attentional network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shota Uono
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
| | - Wataru Sato
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
| | - Reiko Sawada
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; The Organization for Promoting Neurodevelopmental Disorder Research, 40 Shogoin Sanno-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8392, Japan
| | - Takanori Kochiyama
- ATR Brain Activity Imaging Center, 2-2-2, Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Souraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Motomi Toichi
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; The Organization for Promoting Neurodevelopmental Disorder Research, 40 Shogoin Sanno-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8392, Japan
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Janczyk M, Reuss H. Only pre-cueing but no retro-cueing effects emerge with masked arrow cues. Conscious Cogn 2016; 42:93-100. [PMID: 26998561 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Revised: 02/05/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The impact of masked stimulation on cognitive control processes is investigated with much interest. In many cases, masked stimulation suffices to initiate and employ control processes. Shifts of attention either happen in the external environment or internally, for example, in working memory. In the former, even masked cues (i.e., cues that are presented for a period too short to allow strategic use) were shown efficient for shifting attention to particular locations in pre-cue paradigms. Internal attention shifting can be investigated using retro-cues: long after encoding, a valid cue indicates the location to-be-tested via change detection, and this improves performance (retro-cue effect). In the present experiment, participants performed in both a pre- and a retro-cue task with masked and normally presented cues. While the masked cues benefitted performance in the pre-cue task, they did not in the retro-cue task. These results inform about limits of masked stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Janczyk
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Psychology, Germany.
| | - Heiko Reuss
- Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology III, Germany
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Endogenous temporal and spatial orienting: Evidence for two distinct attentional mechanisms. Psychon Bull Rev 2016; 22:967-73. [PMID: 25338657 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0750-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The requirement to orient attention in space and time usually occurs simultaneously. Previous reports were indecisive regarding possible interactions between temporal and spatial orienting. The present study examined whether temporal and spatial orienting can operate simultaneously and independently in the framework of a detection task. Participants completed three consecutive target detection tasks: in the first two tasks a central cue provided predictive information regarding either the temporal delay of the target or its spatial location. In a third task the temporal and spatial cues from the first two tasks were combined into a single cue. Temporal and spatial information provided by the combined cue could be valid or invalid for each type of information separately. Results from the combined temporal-spatial task revealed that at a short cue-to-target interval temporal validity effects were significant at the attended and unattended spatial locations and were not modulated by spatial validity conditions. Spatial validity effects were also significant and comparable between the valid and invalid temporal conditions. Moreover, temporal and spatial validity effects in the combined task were equivalent to those attained in the separate tasks. At a long cue-to-target delay, spatial validity effects were significant and were not modulated by temporal validity but there were no temporal validity effects. Overall, the results suggest that participants were able to extract temporal and spatial information provided by a single cue simultaneously and independently. We conclude that temporal and spatial endogenous orienting function orthogonally in a task that does not require demanding perceptual discrimination.
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Prasad S, Marmolejo-Ramos F, Mishra RK. Made you look! Temporal and emotional characteristics of attentional shift towards gazed locations. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2015.1115614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Seema Prasad
- Center for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
| | - Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm 114 19, Sweden
| | - Ramesh Kumar Mishra
- Center for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
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