Abstract
The global precedence effect (GPE), originally referring to processing hierarchical visual stimuli composed of letters, is characterised by both global advantage and global interference. We present herein a study of how this effect is modulated by the variables letter and sex. The Navon task, using the letters “H” and “S,” was administered to 78 males and 168 females (69 follicular women, 52 luteal women, and 47 hormonal contraceptive users). No interaction occurred between the letter and sex variables, but significant main effects arose from each of these. Reaction times (RTs) revealed that the letter “H” was identified more rapidly in the congruent condition both in the global and the local task, and the letter “S” in the incongruent condition for the local task. Also, although RTs showed a GPE in both males and females, males displayed shorter reaction times in both global and local tasks. Furthermore, luteal women showed higher d’ index (discrimination sensitivity) in the congruent condition for the local task than both follicular women and hormonal contraceptive users, as well as longer exploration time of the irrelevant level during the global task than males. We conclude that, according to the linear periodicity law, the GPE is enhanced for compound letters with straight vs. curved strokes, whereas it is stronger in males than in females. Relevantly, luteal phase of the menstrual cycle seems to tilt women to rely on finer grained information, thus exhibiting an analytical processing style in global/local visual processing.
Highlights
Previous literature has established that in visual perception the global processing of a visual scene precedes the analysis of its local components
After signing their declaration of informed consent, the female participants completed a questionnaire on their menstrual cycle in which they indicated the average duration of their cycle, the number of days elapsed since the beginning of their last period, and whether they were taking hormonal contraceptives
The global precedence effect (GPE) Was Modulated by Letter Stimulus and by Sex/Hormonal Status, but No Interaction Occurred Between These Two Variables
Summary
Previous literature has established that in visual perception the global processing of a visual scene precedes the analysis of its local components. While Kinchla (1974) pioneered the use of hierarchical stimuli to evaluate “multielement stimulus arrays” for the presence of certain critical elements, the global precedence effect (GPE) was described by Navon (1977). Navon used a directed attention task with hierarchical stimuli, initially defined by large letters “H” and “S” made up of small letters “H” and “S.” The global and the local letters were either congruent (e.g., global “S” and local “S”) or incongruent (e.g., global “H” and local “S”). Participants were asked to identify (a) the global stimulus while ignoring the local elements (global task) and (b) the local elements while ignoring the global shape (local task) in two different blocks. Global precedence was evidenced by faster global than local responses in the congruent trials (global advantage) and slower identification of local targets in the presence of global distractors in the incongruent trials (global interference).
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