Face identification in the near-absence of focal attention.
In contrast to artificial geometric shapes, natural scenes and face-gender can be processed even when spatial attention is not fully available. In this study, we investigate whether a finer discrimination, at the level of the individual, is possible in the near-absence of focal attention. Using the paradigm, subjects performed face identification on faces of celebrities and relatively unfamiliar individuals, along with a task that is known to engage spatial attention. We find that face-identification performance is only modestly impaired under dual-task conditions. These results suggest that the visual system is well able to make complex judgments of natural stimuli, even when attention is not fully available.
Reddy
Leila
L
Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. lreddy@klab.caltech.edu
Reddy
Lavanya
L
Koch
Christof
C
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005197:Famous Persons; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D021641:Recognition, Psychology