The face-in-the-crowd effect: Threat detection versus iso-feature suppression and collinear facilitation

Kennett, Matthew; Wallis, Guy

doi:10.1167/19.7.6

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Like Study 2, participants searched for targets defined by their emotional expression that also differed systematically with regards to facial hair (bearded or clean-shaven). As predicted and consistent with past studies, an overall anger superiority effect was observed 12 , 13 . Consistent with Study 1, participants were faster to search through arrays of clean-shaven faces to determine target absence.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…For example, the face in the crowd effect described how angry expressions are rapidly detected in arrays of faces posing neutral or happy facial expressions due to an evolved pre-attentive threat detection and avoidance system 11 . These findings were replicated in several subsequent studies that renamed the phenomenon—the anger superiority effect 8 , 9 , 12 , 13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 65%

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Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm

Dixson

Spiers

Miller

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Human visual systems have evolved to extract ecologically relevant information from complex scenery. In some cases, the face in the crowd visual search task demonstrates an anger superiority effect, where anger is allocated preferential attention. Across three studies (N = 419), we tested whether facial hair guides attention in visual search and influences the speed of detecting angry and happy facial expressions in large arrays of faces. In Study 1, participants were faster to search through clean-shaven crowds and detect bearded targets than to search through bearded crowds and detect clean-shaven targets. In Study 2, targets were angry and happy faces presented in neutral backgrounds. Facial hair of the target faces was also manipulated. An anger superiority effect emerged that was augmented by the presence of facial hair, which was due to the slower detection of happiness on bearded faces. In Study 3, targets were happy and angry faces presented in either bearded or clean-shaven backgrounds. Facial hair of the background faces was also systematically manipulated. A significant anger superiority effect was revealed, although this was not moderated by the target’s facial hair. Rather, the anger superiority effect was larger in clean-shaven than bearded face backgrounds. Together, results suggest that facial hair does influence detection of emotional expressions in visual search, however, rather than facilitating an anger superiority effect as a potential threat detection system, facial hair may reduce detection of happy faces within the face in the crowd paradigm.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm

Dixson

Spiers

Miller

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…For instance, Purcell et al (1996) first noted that photographs’ illumination, brightness, and contrast artifacts were to be carefully controlled. The use of schematic faces cannot be the answer ( Coelho et al, 2011 ; Beaudry et al, 2014 ; Watier, 2018 , see also Kennett and Wallis, 2019 for more recent findings) as—beyond violating ecological validity—they also comprise low-level visual features related to the interaction between the lines representing eyebrows and mouth and the surroundings representing the head, forming “T” junctions with the surround. These junctions and differences in line orientation are likely responsible for the search advantage seen in schematic stimuli rather than the “emotions” displayed on the faces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From an evolutionary point of view, prioritized detection for emotional cues on the faces of others was likely adaptive throughout human evolution as it helped survival by, for instance, foreshadowing danger (angry expression), or promoting trustworthiness (happy expression). Several research fronts are focused on the root causes of visual search advantage related to schematic faces ( Kennett and Wallis, 2019 ), emotional interpretation of Emojis ( Franco and Fugate, 2020 ), or comparing different methods related to happy faces search advantage research ( Rohr et al, 2012 ; Calvo and Beltrán, 2013 ; Wirth and Wentura, 2020 ). However, whether happy or angry emotional facial expressions portray particular features that foster accurate and prompt recognition and detection is still debated (e.g., Calvo and Nummenmaa, 2008 ; Becker and Rheem, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Finding an Emotional Face” Revisited: Differences in Own-Age Bias and the Happiness Superiority Effect in Children and Young Adults

et al. 2021

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People seem to differ in their visual search performance involving emotionally expressive faces when these expressions are seen on faces of others close to their age (peers) compared to faces of non-peers, known as the own-age bias (OAB). This study sought to compare search advantages in angry and happy faces detected on faces of adults and children on a pool of children (N = 77, mean age = 5.57) and adults (N = 68, mean age = 21.48). The goals of this study were to (1) examine the developmental trajectory of expression recognition and (2) examine the development of an OAB. Participants were asked to find a target face displaying an emotional expression among eight neutral faces. Results showed that children and adults found happy faces significantly faster than angry and fearful faces regardless of it being present on the faces of peers or non-peers. Adults responded faster to the faces of peers regardless of the expression. Furthermore, while children detected angry faces significantly faster compared to fearful ones, we found no such difference in adults. In contrast, adults detected all expressions significantly faster when they appeared on the faces of other adults compared to the faces of children. In sum, we found evidence for development in detecting facial expressions and also an age-dependent increase in OAB. We suggest that the happy face could have an advantage in visual processing due to its importance in social situations and its overall higher frequency compared to other emotional expressions. Although we only found some evidence on the OAB, using peer or non-peer faces should be a theoretical consideration of future research because the same emotion displayed on non-peers’ compared to peers’ faces may have different implications and meanings to the perceiver.

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Real Face Value: The Processing of Naturalistic Facial Expressions in the Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex

Taubert,

Japee

2024

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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For primates, expressions of fear are thought to be powerful social signals. In laboratory settings, faces with fearful expressions have reliably evoked valence effects in inferior temporal cortex. However, because macaques use so called “fear grins” in a variety of different contexts, the deeper question is whether the macaque inferior temporal cortex is tuned to the prototypical fear grin, or to conspecifics signaling fear? In this study, we combined neuroimaging with the results of a behavioral task to investigate how macaques encode a wide variety of fearful facial expressions. In Experiment 1, we identified two sets of macaque face stimuli using different approaches; we selected faces based on the emotional context (i.e., calm vs. fearful), and we selected faces based on the engagement of action units (i.e., neutral vs. fear grins). We also included human faces in Experiment 1. Then, using fMRI, we found that the faces selected based on context elicited a larger valence effect in the inferior temporal cortex than faces selected based on visual appearance. Furthermore, human facial expressions only elicited weak valence effects. These observations were further supported by the results of a two-alternative, forced-choice task (Experiment 2), suggesting that fear grins vary in their perceived pleasantness. Collectively, these findings indicate that the macaque inferior temporal cortex is more involved in social intelligence than commonly assumed, encoding emergent properties in naturalistic face stimuli that transcend basic visual features. These results demand a rethinking of theories surrounding the function and operationalization of primate inferior temporal cortex.

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The face-in-the-crowd effect: Threat detection versus iso-feature suppression and collinear facilitation

Cited by 4 publications

References 57 publications

Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm

Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm

“Finding an Emotional Face” Revisited: Differences in Own-Age Bias and the Happiness Superiority Effect in Children and Young Adults

Real Face Value: The Processing of Naturalistic Facial Expressions in the Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex

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