Abstract
The Animate Monitoring Hypothesis proposes that humans and animals were the most important categories of visual stimuli for ancestral humans to monitor, as they presented important challenges and opportunities for survival and reproduction; however, it remains unknown whether animal faces are located as efficiently as human faces. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether human, primate, and mammal faces elicit similarly efficient searches, or whether human faces are privileged. In the first three experiments, participants located a target (human, primate, or mammal face) among distractors (non-face objects). We found fixations on human faces were faster and more accurate than fixations on primate faces, even when controlling for search category specificity. A final experiment revealed that, even when task-irrelevant, human faces slowed searches for non-faces, suggesting some bottom-up processing may be responsible for the human face search efficiency advantage.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 439-456 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Experimental Psychology |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Animal faces
- Attention
- Eye tracking
- Face detection
- Human face
- Search efficiency
- Visual search
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Psychology(all)
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Visual search efficiency is greater for human faces compared to animal faces. / Simpson, Elizabeth A; Husband, Haley L.; Yee, Krysten; Fullerton, Alison; Jakobsen, Krisztina V.
In: Experimental Psychology, Vol. 61, No. 6, 2014, p. 439-456.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Visual search efficiency is greater for human faces compared to animal faces
AU - Simpson, Elizabeth A
AU - Husband, Haley L.
AU - Yee, Krysten
AU - Fullerton, Alison
AU - Jakobsen, Krisztina V.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The Animate Monitoring Hypothesis proposes that humans and animals were the most important categories of visual stimuli for ancestral humans to monitor, as they presented important challenges and opportunities for survival and reproduction; however, it remains unknown whether animal faces are located as efficiently as human faces. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether human, primate, and mammal faces elicit similarly efficient searches, or whether human faces are privileged. In the first three experiments, participants located a target (human, primate, or mammal face) among distractors (non-face objects). We found fixations on human faces were faster and more accurate than fixations on primate faces, even when controlling for search category specificity. A final experiment revealed that, even when task-irrelevant, human faces slowed searches for non-faces, suggesting some bottom-up processing may be responsible for the human face search efficiency advantage.
AB - The Animate Monitoring Hypothesis proposes that humans and animals were the most important categories of visual stimuli for ancestral humans to monitor, as they presented important challenges and opportunities for survival and reproduction; however, it remains unknown whether animal faces are located as efficiently as human faces. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether human, primate, and mammal faces elicit similarly efficient searches, or whether human faces are privileged. In the first three experiments, participants located a target (human, primate, or mammal face) among distractors (non-face objects). We found fixations on human faces were faster and more accurate than fixations on primate faces, even when controlling for search category specificity. A final experiment revealed that, even when task-irrelevant, human faces slowed searches for non-faces, suggesting some bottom-up processing may be responsible for the human face search efficiency advantage.
KW - Animal faces
KW - Attention
KW - Eye tracking
KW - Face detection
KW - Human face
KW - Search efficiency
KW - Visual search
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84916241176&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84916241176&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000263
DO - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000263
M3 - Article
C2 - 24962122
AN - SCOPUS:84916241176
VL - 61
SP - 439
EP - 456
JO - Experimental Psychology
JF - Experimental Psychology
SN - 1618-3169
IS - 6
ER -