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Configural information in facial expression perception
Authors:
CALDER, A.J., Young, A.W., KEANE, J., and Dean, M.
Reference:
JEP: Human Perception and Performance, 26(2), 527-551.
Year of publication:
2000
CBU number:
3789
Abstract:
Composite facial expressions were prepared by aligning the top half of one expression (e.g., anger) with the bottom half of an other (e.g., happiness). Experiment 1 shows that participants are slower to identify the expression in either half of these composite images relative to a 'noncomposite' control condition in which the two halves are misaligned. This parallels the composite effect for facial identity (Young et al., 1987), and like its identity counterpart, the effect is disrupted by inverting the stimuli (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 shows that no composite effect is found when the top and bottom sections contain different models’ faces posing the same expression; this serves to exclude many non-configural interpretations of the composite effect (e.g., composites are more ‘attention-grabbing’ than noncomposites). Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrates that the composite effects for identity and expression operate independently of one another.
Data for this project is held by an external institution. Please contact the authors to request a copy.