[en] Previous studies investigating the ability of high priority stimuli to grab attention reached
contradictory outcomes. The present study used eye tracking to examine the effect of the
presence of the self-face among other faces in a visual search task in which the face identity
was task-irrelevant. We assessed whether the self-face (1) received prioritized selection (2)
caused a difficulty to disengage attention, and (3) whether its status as target or distractor had
a differential effect. We included another highly familiar face to control whether possible
effects were self-face specific or could be explained by high familiarity. We found that the
self-face interfered with the search task. This was not due to a prioritized processing but
rather to a difficulty to disengage attention. Crucially, this effect seemed due to the self-face’s
familiarity, as similar results were obtained with the other familiar face, and was modulated
by the status of the face since it was stronger for targets than for distractors.
Disciplines :
Theoretical & cognitive psychology
Author, co-author :
Devue, Christel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cognitives > Psychologie cognitive
Van der Stigchel, Stefan
Brédart, Serge ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cognitives > Psychologie cognitive - Doyen de la Faculté de Psychologie et des sc. de l'éducation
Theeuwes, Jan
Language :
English
Title :
You do not find your own face faster; you just look at it longer
Publication date :
April 2009
Journal title :
Cognition
ISSN :
0010-0277
eISSN :
1873-7838
Publisher :
Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Volume :
111
Issue :
1
Pages :
114-122
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique NWO - Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
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