Task difficulty reduces the left visual hemispace bias for judgments of emotion in chimeric faces.
A prior study (Carbary, Almerigi, & Harris, 2001) of adults' judgments of emotional chimeric faces showed that the left visual hemispace (LVH) bias normally found on a free-viewing chimeric faces test is reduced when the task is judged to be difficult. Taking into account theory and research on hemispheric differences in styles, or strategies, of information processing, we proposed that the reduction was related to a change in these strategies. Two new experiments are presented that independently manipulate task difficulty and show the same task difficulty-related effect as in our prior study. Data are also presented suggesting that the strategy most commonly adopted for difficult judgments is part-based or feature-oriented, whereas the strategy most commonly adopted for easy judgments is reliance on "first impression."
Carbary
Timothy J
TJ
Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. harrisl@msu.edu
Almerigi
Jason B
JB
Harris
Lauren Julius
LJ
D000339:Affect; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*