Simple geometric shapes are associated with facial emotional expressions. According to previous research, a downward-pointing triangle conveys the threatening perception of an angry facial expression, and a circle conveys the pleasant perception of a happy facial expression. Some studies showed that downward-pointing triangles have the advantage to capture attention faster than circles. Other studies proposed that curvature enhances visual detection and guides attention. We tested a downward-pointing triangle and a circle as target stimuli for a speeded response task. The distractors were two stimuli that resulted from the mixture of both targets to control for low-level features’ balanced presentation. We used 3 × 3, 4 × 4, and 5 × 5 matrices to test whether these shapes led attention to an efficient response. In Experiment 1, participants responded faster to the circle than to the downward-pointing triangle. They also responded slower to both targets as the number of distractors increased. In Experiment 2, we replicated the main findings of Experiment 1. Overall, the circle was detected faster than the downward-pointing triangle with small matrices, but this difference decreased as the matrix size increased. We suggest that circles capture attention faster because of the influence of low-level features, that is, curvature in this case.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.