Cuing effects of faces are dependent on handedness and visual field |
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Authors: | Emma Ferneyhough Damian A Stanley Elizabeth A Phelps Marisa Carrasco |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Faces are unlike other visual objects we encounter, in that they alert us to potentially relevant social information. Both
face processing and spatial attention are dominant in the right hemisphere of the human brain, with a stronger lateralization
in right- than in left-handers. Here, we demonstrate behavioral evidence for an effect of handedness on performance in tasks
using faces to direct attention. Nonpredictive, peripheral cues (faces or dots) directed exogenous attention to contrast-varying
stimuli (Gabor patches)—a tilted target, a vertical distractor, or both; observers made orientation discriminations on the
target stimuli. Whereas cuing with dots increased contrast sensitivity in both groups, cuing with faces increased contrast
sensitivity in right- but not in left-handers, for whom opposite hemifield effects resulted in no net increase. Our results
reveal that attention modulation by face cues critically depends on handedness and visual hemifield. These previously unreported
interactions suggest that such lateralized systems may be functionally connected. |
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Keywords: | |
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