Order of feature recognition in familiar and unfamiliar faces

Three experiments measured order of processing for single faces presented to the left or right visual field (VF) using a same-different matching task. In contrast to earlier studies, the stimuli in the present experiments were carefully matched for overall similarity prior to the actual experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a significant top-to-bottom order of processing occurred for line drawings of unfamiliar faces but not for line drawings of familiar faces. Experiment 3 found evidence supporting top-to-bottom processing for unfamiliar photographic face stimuli. The photographic stimuli in Experiment 3 were matched more quickly when presented in the left VF (right hemisphere); however, this VF asymmetry was not related to previously reported differences in order of processing. It is suggested that under some conditions faces presented to the right hemisphere may be processed more like familiar faces than faces presented to the left hemisphere; however, this difference is not critical for the left VF (right hemisphere) superiority often found in face recognition tasks.     

To let hair be,or to not let hair be? Gender and body hair removal practices in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Research and anecdotal evidence suggest women continue to remove body hair, and there is some evidence for cultural changes in men's hair removal practices. This paper reports on data collected using an online mix-methods survey from 584 New Zealanders between the ages of 18–35 (mean age 26, 48.9% male, 50.6% female). The data demonstrated that substantial proportions of both women and men in Aotearoa/New Zealand remove body hair from many sites. However, gendered differences remain, and a key dimension of gendered difference appears in the concept of flexible choice around body hair removal or retention. This was seen in the difference between perceived acceptability of having body hair (81% for men, 11% for women). These findings suggest that although men, like women, are now coming under some pressure to remove body hair, there is still a great difference in men and women's capacity to choose whether to bow to it.     

Amygdala activation during masked presentation of emotional faces predicts conscious detection of threat-related faces

It has been argued that critical functions of the human amygdala are to modulate the moment-to-moment vigilance level and to enhance the processing and the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing material. In this functional magnetic resonance study, pictures of human faces bearing fearful, angry, and happy expressions were presented to nine healthy volunteers using a backward masking procedure based on neutral facial expression. Activation of the left and right amygdala in response to the masked fearful faces (compared to neutral faces) was significantly correlated with the number of fearful faces detected. In addition, right but not left amygdala activation in response to the masked angry faces was significantly related to the number of angry faces detected. The present findings underscore the role of the amygdala in the detection and consolidation of memory for marginally perceptible threatening facial expression.     

Cultural estrangement: the role of personal and societal value discrepancies

Study 1 examined whether cultural estrangement arises from discrepancies between personal and societal values (e.g., freedom) rather than from discrepancies in attitudes toward political (e.g., censorship) or mundane (e.g., pizza) objects. The relations between different types of value discrepancies, estrangement, subjective well-being, and need for uniqueness also were examined. Results indicated that personal-societal discrepancies in values and political attitudes predicted estrangement, whereas mundane attitude discrepancies were not related to estrangement. As expected, value discrepancies were the most powerful predictor of estrangement. Value discrepancies were not related to subjective well-being but fulfilled a need for uniqueness. Study 2 replicated the relations between value discrepancies, subjective well-being, and need for uniqueness while showing that a self-report measure of participants' values and a peer-report measure of the participants' values yielded the same pattern of value discrepancies. Together, the studies reveal theoretical and empirical benefits of conceptualizing cultural estrangement in terms of value discrepancies.     

Consistent (but not variable) names as invitations to form object categories: new evidence from 12-month-old infants

Recent research documents that for infants just beginning to produce words on their own, novel words highlight commonalities among named objects and, in this way, serve as invitations to form categories. The current experiment identifies more precisely the source of this invitation. We asked whether applying a consistent name to a set of distinct objects is crucial to categorization, or whether variable names might serve the same conceptual function. The evidence suggests that for 12-month-old infants, consistency in naming is critical. Infants hearing a single consistent novel noun for a set of distinct objects successfully formed object categories. Infants hearing different novel nouns for the same set of objects did not. These results lend strength and greater precision to the argument that naming has powerful and rather nuanced conceptual consequences for infants as well as for mature speakers.     

Vision outside the focus of attention

We investigated the relationship between focal attention and a feature-gradient detection that is performed in a parallel manner. We found that a feature gradient can be detected without measurable impairment of performance even while a concurrent form-recognition task is carried out. In spite of the fact that the form-recognition task engages focal attention and thus removes attentive resources from the vicinity of the feature gradient. This outcome suggests strongly that certain perceptions concerning salient boundaries and singularities in a visual scene can be accomplished without the aid of resource-limited processes, such as focal attention, and, by implication, that there may exist two distinct perceptual faculties (one attentive, the other not) that are able to bring complementary kinds of visual information simultaneously to our awareness.