A visual search advantage for illusory faces in objects

Face detection is a priority of both the human and primate visual system. However, occasionally we misperceive faces in inanimate objects –– "face pareidolia". A key feature of these 'false positives' is that face perception occurs in the absence of visual features typical of rea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Attention, perception & psychophysics perception & psychophysics, 2021-07, Vol.83 (5), p.1942-1953
Main Authors: Keys, Robert T., Taubert, Jessica, Wardle, Susan G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Brain
Cognitive Psychology
Evidence
Experiments
Interpersonal Relationship
Psychology
Research Design
Stimuli
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:Face detection is a priority of both the human and primate visual system. However, occasionally we misperceive faces in inanimate objects –– "face pareidolia". A key feature of these 'false positives' is that face perception occurs in the absence of visual features typical of real faces. Human faces are known to be located faster than objects in visual search. Here we used a visual search paradigm to test whether illusory faces share this advantage. Search times were faster for illusory faces than for matched objects amongst both matched (Experiment 1 ) and diverse (Experiment 2 ) distractors, however search times for real human faces were faster and more efficient than objects with or without an illusory face. Importantly, this result indicates that illusory faces are processed quickly enough by the human brain to confer a visual search advantage, suggesting the engagement of a broadly-tuned mechanism that facilitates rapid face detection in cluttered environments.
ISSN:1943-3921
1943-393X
DOI:10.3758/s13414-021-02267-4