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Minimal exposure durations reveal visual processing priorities for different stimulus attributes
Human vision can detect a single photon, but the minimal exposure required to extract meaning from stimulation remains unknown. This requirement cannot be characterised by stimulus energy, because the system is differentially sensitive to attributes defined by configuration rather than physical ampl...
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Published in: | Nature communications 2024-10, Vol.15 (1), p.8523-12, Article 8523 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Human vision can detect a single photon, but the minimal exposure required to extract meaning from stimulation remains unknown. This requirement cannot be characterised by stimulus energy, because the system is differentially sensitive to attributes defined by configuration rather than physical amplitude. Determining minimal exposure durations required for processing various stimulus attributes can thus reveal the system’s priorities. Using a tachistoscope enabling arbitrarily brief displays, we establish minimal durations for processing human faces, a stimulus category whose perception is associated with several well-characterised behavioural and neural markers. Neural and psychophysical measures show a sequence of distinct minimal exposures for stimulation detection, object-level detection, face-specific processing, and emotion-specific processing. Resolving ongoing debates, face orientation affects minimal exposure but emotional expression does not. Awareness emerges with detection, showing no evidence of subliminal perception. These findings inform theories of visual processing and awareness, elucidating the information to which the visual system is attuned.
Minimal exposure durations required for visual processing of stimulus attributes can reveal the system’s priorities. Here, the authors show a distinct sequence of minimal exposures needed for face processing and find that orientation, but not emotional expression affects these durations. |
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ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-024-52778-5 |