Interactions between facial emotion and identity in face processing: Evidence based on redundancy gains

Abstract

Interactions between the processing of emotion expression and form-based information from faces (facial identity) were investigated using the redundant-target paradigm, in which we specifically tested whether identity and emotional expression are integrated in a superadditive manner (Miller, Cognitive Psychology 14:247-279, 1982). In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed emotion and face identity judgments on faces with sad or angry emotional expressions. Responses to redundant targets were faster than responses to either single target when a universal emotion was conveyed, and performance violated the predictions from a model assuming independent processing of emotion and face identity. Experiment 4 showed that these effects were not modulated by varying interstimulus and nontarget contingencies, and Experiment 5 demonstrated that the redundancy gains were eliminated when faces were inverted. Taken together, these results suggest that the identification of emotion and facial identity interact in face processing.

The Integrative Self: How Self-Reference Integrates Perception and Memory

“…The same benefit was not apparent for stimuli associated with a friend. Previous results indicate that redundancy gains are particularly large if the stimuli are parts of a grouped configuration [38] or object [39]. These results fit with a proposal that self-related shapes are integrated into a single representation so that participants respond to an integrated 'self Gestalt'.…”

How distinct is the coding of face identity and expression? Evidence for some common dimensions in face space

“…This unidirectional influence has also been reported using a visual adaptation paradigm, with changes in identity reducing expression aftereffects (Ellamil, Susskind, & Anderson, 2008;Fox & Barton, 2007;Skinner & Benton, 2012), but not vice versa (Fox, Oruc, & Barton, 2008). However, when discriminability of expression and identity is well matched, both directions of influence have been reported in a variety of paradigms (e.g., Fitousi & Wenger, 2013;Ganel & Goshen-Gottstein, 2004;Wang, Fu, Johnston, & Yan, 2013;Yankouskaya, Booth, & Humphreys, 2012). Assuming that these effects reflect perceptual rather than post-perceptual analysis, then they challenge the independent visual processing of identity and expression.…”

“…Assuming that these effects reflect perceptual rather than post-perceptual analysis, then they challenge the independent visual processing of identity and expression. Some support for this assumption comes from evidence that interactions occur in visual adaptation studies (e.g., Fox et al, 2008), which tap perceptual processing, and for upright but not inverted faces (which do not engage face-coding mechanisms very effectively) (Yankouskaya et al, 2012). Finally, recent work on individual differences also fails to support independent visual processing of identity and expression, with a positive correlations observed between identity and expression recognition (Palermo, O'Connor, Davis, Irons, & McKone, 2013).…”

Composite faces are not processed holistically: evidence from the Garner and redundant target paradigms

“…This redundant-target effect (RTE) has been replicated in a great deal of studies using a variety of stimuli and dimensions (Miller, 1982;Mordkoff & Egeth, 1993;Townsend & Nozawa, 1995). It has been recently harnessed to probing facial dimensions Fitousi & Wenger, 2013;Ingvalson & Wenger, 2005;Wenger & Townsend, 2001b;Yankouskaya et al, 2012). Application of the redundant target task to composite faces is a novel contribution of the present study.…”