title: The face is the thing: Faces, not emotions, are responsible for chimeric perceptual asymmetry.
abstract: We used factor analysis to examine relationships among tasks that have previously shown right hemispheric processing asymmetries. We were interested in whether processing emotion displayed by a face constitutes a distinct perceptual process from processing other facial characteristics. Interest in this topic arose after Boles [ 1991 . Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Pilot study and parietal functions. Neuropsychologia, 29 ( 1 ), 59 - 91 ] found evidence of a common process underlying face processing and then Boles [ 1992 . Factor analysis and the cerebral hemispheres: Temporal, occipital and frontal functions. Neuropsychologia, 30 ( 11 ), 963 - 988 ] found evidence of a distinct process for the processing of the facial emotion. We used seven tasks that measured both face and non-face perception. Analysis of the asymmetries revealed measures from the five face tasks resulted in a single factor, thus failing to support the hypothesis that emotional face perception would involve a separate process from non-emotional face perception. A second factor revealed a separate process underlying enumeration, and a third factor revealed yet another process underlying line bisection. The results indicate that perceiving facial emotion results in right hemisphere processing, and faces as a whole are responsible for such processing.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , AL , USA.
authors.forename: McKensie M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Worley
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , AL , USA.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Boles
keywords: Lateralization; asymmetry; chimeric images; emotion; face perception