A Paper by Dr. Yoshiyuki Ueda and Kazusa Minemoto et al. Has Been Published in the International Academic Journal ,Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

A paper by Dr. Yoshiyuki Ueda (Senior Lecturer), Kazusa Minemoto (the first author, Assistant Research Staff), and Sakiko Yoshikawa (Kyoto University of the Arts) et al. has been published in the international academic journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

When multiple facial expressions are presented simultaneously, we can quickly and automatically extract the average of those facial expressions (ensemble average). However, it was not clear from previous research whether the ensemble average created in the mind is visually represented in the same way as the actual facial expressions or if it is represented in a different form. The research group tackled this problem by using the effect of facial expression adaptation.

Facial expression adaptation is a phenomenon in which, when we keep seeing one facial expression, it becomes difficult to recognize the same facial expression presented after it. This phenomenon is observed where two facial expressions are presented in sequence. However, if the stimulus presented first changes to something other than a visual image (e.g., an emotional voice), the effect is known to be significantly weakened, or lost altogether. Thus, the fact that facial adaptation occurs is evidence that a visual representation is created in the mind.

In this study, the following two conditions were compared: 1) a condition in which multiple facial expressions were first simultaneously presented, and 2) a condition in which a single facial expression was presented first. Both conditions elicited similarly strong adaptation effects. This suggests that ensemble averages of facial expressions are visually represented as if they were real faces in front of us.

◇ Article information
Minemoto, K.*, Ueda, Y.* & Yoshikawa, S. (2022). The aftereffect of the ensemble average of facial expressions on subsequent facial expression recognition. Atten Percept Psychophys.

doi: 10.3758/s13414-021-02407-w

* corresponding author

https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-021-02407-w

2022/02/25