Parafoveal Semantic Processing of Emotional Visual Scenes.

Abstract

The authors investigated whether emotional pictorial stimuli are especially likely to be processed in parafoveal vision. Pairs of emotional and neutral visual scenes were presented parafoveally (2.1°or 2.5°o f visual angle from a central fixation point) for 150 -3,000 ms, followed by an immediate recognition test (500-ms delay). Results indicated that (a) the first fixation was more likely to be placed onto the emotional than the neutral scene; (b) recognition sensitivity (AЈ) was generally higher for the emotional than for the neutral scene when the scenes were paired, but there were no differences when presented individually; and (c) the superior sensitivity for emotional scenes survived changes in size, color, and spatial orientation, but not in meaning. The data suggest that semantic analysis of emotional scenes can begin in parafoveal vision in advance of foveal fixation.Keywords: parafoveal, perception, emotional, scenes, pictorial stimuli Parafoveal Semantic Processing of EmotionalVisual ScenesThe present study addresses the issues of whether emotional visual scenes are especially likely to be perceived outside the spatial focus of attention, in comparison with nonemotional scenes, and the kind of content that is processed when these pictorial stimuli are presented in parafoveal vision. Because of the optical properties of the neural structure of the retina of the eyes, the quality of visual information falls off rapidly and continuously from the center of the fixation placement. The spatial field of vision can be divided into three regions: foveal, parafoveal, and peripheral. Acuity is maximal in the fovea (the central 2°of vision), it decreases in the parafovea (which extends out to 5°on each side of foveal fixation), and it is even poorer in the periphery (beyond the parafoveal boundaries). Foveal vision corresponds to the spatial focus of overt attention. Parafoveal and peripheral vision involve perception outside the focus of attention. There is a controversy regarding what type of information can be obtained from parafoveal and peripheral vision of scenes (for reviews, see Rayner, 1998). Parafoveal and Peripheral Processing of Pictorial StimuliRayner and Pollatsek (1992) argued that meaningful information can be extracted further from fixation in scenes than in text, thus suggesting a larger perceptual span for pictorial than for verbal stimuli. Henderson, Weeks, and Hollingworth (1999) have put forward a model of eye movement control in scene viewing that specifies the role of semantic processing for stimuli located out of foveal fixation. This model is meant to account for fixation placement and fixation duration. Initially, eye movements and fixation placement are determined by low-level visual features of stimuli such as luminance, contrast, color, and so forth. Once the eyes land on a region, the amount of time they remain at that place is determined by the successful completion of processing, which involves both perceptual and cognitive analysis. Semantic factors such as informativeness, consi...

Affective priming of emotional pictures in parafoveal vision: Left visual field advantage

“…A tentative conclusion is that affective significance is assessed through overt attention (Avero & Calvo, 2006), but not through covert attention (present study). However, this conclusion would be at odds with prior research that has found either facilitated orienting to emotional pictures (as shown by eye movements; Calvo & Lang, 2004;Nummenmaa et al, 2006) or (Calvo & Lang, 2005) when the pictures were presented parafoveally. A way to account for these discrepancies involves examining the role of prior identification of the stimuli as a prerequisite for affective processing.…”

Detecting single-target changes in multiple object tracking: The case of peripheral vision

“…First, a trial could not be included if the target change was not correctly signaled by a button press or was not correctly named at the end of the trial's motion phase, because in those trials attention was not on the correct target. Second, trials were excluded from further analysis if, at event start, the distance of the gaze vector to the tobe-changed target was less than 5°-that is, within the range of parafoveal vision (Calvo & Lang, 2005). The reason for this exclusion was that in those trials the participants could have focused on the particular target just by chance, so that the lack of a saccade should be considered as accidental and not be interpreted as resulting from a certain gaze-control strategy.…”

Peripherally Presented Emotional Scenes: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Early ERP Responses

“…The mean luminance and colour saturation (for red, green and blue) for each picture were measured and some pictures were adjusted to maintain homogeneity between unpleasant and neutral sets (Adobe Photoshop Ò software, see [25,34]). Separate analyses of variance (ANOVA) performed on the mean luminance, the colour saturation and the standard deviation of luminance values (i.e.…”

“…Indeed, Calvo and Lang [25] explored parafoveal vision at 10°of eccentricity and evidenced a preferential gaze attraction for emotional pictures when compared with neutral ones. At the same eccentricity, they also showed that emotional pictures were better remembered, even with brief presentations (150 ms).…”

“…Consequently, the aim of the current study was (1) to characterize the early visual processing in response to pictures presented at high eccentricities and (2) to evidence the existence of early emotional processing at those eccentricities. To this end, visual unpleasant and neutral scenes selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; [26]) were controlled with regards to their physical parameters [25,27] and were presented in central and peripheral vision.…”