Facial expressions may be perceived continuously or categorically, i.e., perception of facial expressions may be explained by feature-based models or holistic models. A linear additive model is proposed, with weightings for facial features to reflect configural spatial relationships or distances of features from each other. Predictions from the model regarding the perception of affect intensities (e.g., of anger and sadness) were tested using schematic faces, with three facial features, eyebrows, eyes, and mouth as predictors. Model predictions, based on multiple regression analyses, corresponded well with rating judgments of anger and sadness in three experiments. The results suggest not only the limit of feature-configural models of facial expression perception but the feature-selective configuration of facial features and continuous perception of facial expressions. Findings also indicate that the salience or weight of each feature varies with the emotion perceived by observers.

The visual system seems to integrate information that is presented over time in a spatially fragmented fashion, with the result that observers are able to report the whole shape of objects. This research considers relations in space and time that allow the integrated percepts of complete objects. Specifically, temporal characteristics for spatiotemporal integration of illusory contour and spatial characteristics of interpolated contour are examined. A serial presentation paradigm and a dot localization task were used in two experiments; observers localized a probe dot relative to a perceived contour of an illusory object. Each of four inducing figures was briefly presented in a serial order to observers and the total time of the series was manipulated. In Experiment 1 short time ranges varied up to 180 ms, whereas longer times were examined in Experiment 2. Overall, the results demonstrate that a short time allows spatiotemporal integration, and that the perceived location of contour consistently shifts with time range. These experiments suggest that the mechanism of spatiotemporal integration operates on spatial integration as a limiting case.

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