Face-gender discrimination is possible in the near-absence of attention.
The attentional cost associated with the visual discrimination of the gender of a face was investigated. Participants performed a face-gender discrimination task either alone (single-task) or concurrently (dual-task) with a known attentional demanding task (5-letter T/L discrimination). Overall performance on face-gender discrimination suffered remarkably little under the dual-task condition compared to the single-task condition. Similar results were obtained in experiments that controlled for potential training effects or the use of low-level cues in this discrimination task. Our results provide further evidence against the notion that only low-level representations can be accessed outside the focus of attention.
CNS Program, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. lreddy@klab.caltech.edu
Leila
L
Reddy
Patrick
P
Wilken
Christof
C
Koch
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*