Abstract
We investigated whether personally familiar faces are preferentially processed in conditions of reduced attentional resources and in the absence of conscious awareness. In the first experiment, we used Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) to test the susceptibility of familiar faces and faces of strangers to the attentional blink. In the second experiment, we used continuous flash interocular suppression to render stimuli invisible and measured face detection time for personally familiar faces as compared to faces of strangers. In both experiments we found an advantage for detection of personally familiar faces as compared to faces of strangers. Our data suggest that the identity of faces is processed with reduced attentional resources and even in the absence of awareness. Our results show that this facilitated processing of familiar faces cannot be attributed to detection of low-level visual features and that a learned unique configuration of facial features can influence preconscious perceptual processing.
Highlights
The capacity to detect ecologically relevant stimuli quickly has adaptive advantages
Familiar faces were detected more frequently than were faces of strangers during the attentional blink, indicating that detection of familiar faces requires fewer attentional resources than does detection of unfamiliar faces. These results suggest that detection of familiar faces is more robust during the attentional blink than is detection of unfamiliar faces and, reflects a process that requires fewer attentional resources
We compared how long it took for faces of friends and faces of strangers to break through continuous flash interocular suppression
Summary
The capacity to detect ecologically relevant stimuli quickly has adaptive advantages. Previous work has demonstrated that stimuli that signal threat are processed preferentially in conditions of increased attentional load and without awareness [1], [2]. Perceiving socially relevant stimuli quickly, including those that can facilitate social exchanges in addition to those that signal threat, is essential for adaptive behavior. Upright faces are detected preferentially, relative to inverted faces, even in the absence of conscious awareness [4], [5]. Signals expressed by faces that manifest interest, the desire to catch one’s attention, or the intention to engage in a social interaction such as eye gaze and head direction are processed in the absence of conscious awareness [6], [7]
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