Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Charles Darwin proposed that facial expressions are an evolutionary adaptation for communication. He argued that these expressions are not influenced by culture but are universal across species. For example, a snarling expression with exposed teeth signals a threat in many animals, including humans. Darwin also suggested that displaying an emotion can intensify the feeling. Smiling, for example, could enhance one's sense of happiness. This idea laid the foundation for understanding the role of...

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

Factors Affecting Perception

Factors Affecting Perception

Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...

Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is the inability to recognize faces. In severe cases, individuals with prosopagnosia may not recognize close family members, including parents and spouses, by their faces. For instance, someone with prosopagnosia might walk past their child in a crowd, only realizing their mistake upon noticing their child's distinctive backpack or favorite jacket. Prosopagnosia specifically impairs facial recognition, while the recognition of other objects or...

Visual Agnosia

Visual Agnosia

Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round end"...

Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion

Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed the two-factor theory of emotion, which emphasizes the interplay between physiological arousal and cognitive labeling in forming emotional experiences. This theory suggests that emotions are not simply a result of physiological responses but rather a combination of these responses and the individual's cognitive interpretation of them.
Physiological Arousal and Cognitive Labeling
According to this theory, when an individual experiences physiological...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The study of epigenetic clocks in former professional contact sports athletes with repetitive head impacts.

Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry·2026

Same author

Examining anterior prefrontal cortex resting-state functional connectivity patterns associated with depressive symptoms in chronic moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury.

Frontiers in neurology·2025

Same author

Moderate-Severe TBI as a Progressive Disorder: Patterns and Predictors of Cognitive Declines in the Chronic Stages of Injury.

Neurorehabilitation and neural repair·2023

Same author

Towards PPG-based anger detection for emotion regulation.

Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation·2023

Same author

Feasibility of group telerehabilitation for individuals with chronic acquired brain injury: integrating clinical care and research.

Disability and rehabilitation·2023

Same author

Longitudinal Patterns of Functional Connectivity in Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Journal of neurotrauma·2022

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

Visual search for schematic emotional faces risks perceptual confound.

Kathleen M Mak-Fan¹, William F Thompson, Robin E A Green

¹University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. katie@psych.utoronto.ca

Cognition & Emotion

|May 7, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Negative facial expressions are not reliably detected faster in visual search tasks. Perceptual features, like a curved mouth, may confound results, suggesting a need to control for these confounds in future emotional face perception research.

More Related Videos

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention

Published on: November 16, 2017

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Published on: May 15, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention

Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention

Published on: November 16, 2017

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Published on: May 15, 2016

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Visual Perception
Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

Previous research suggests negative faces are found faster in visual search, implying emotional expression guides attention.
This effect is hypothesized to be disrupted by face inversion, but findings are inconsistent, suggesting potential perceptual confounds.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether the perceptual feature of
closure
caused by a down-turned mouth in schematic faces confounds visual search findings for negative emotional expressions.
To determine if face inversion disrupts the visual search advantage for negative faces and to isolate the role of perceptual features versus emotional content.

Main Methods:

Experiment 1 replicated the speed advantage for upright negative faces.
Experiment 2 tested the effect of face inversion, observing no disruption and an emerging efficiency advantage.
Experiment 3 used scrambled faces with the 'closure' feature intact to assess its independent contribution to search effects.

Main Results:

The speed advantage for upright negative faces was replicated.
Face inversion did not disrupt the advantage; instead, an efficiency advantage emerged, pointing to perceptual features.
Search effects persisted even when face features were scrambled but the mouth feature remained.

Conclusions:

The visual search advantage for negative schematic faces may be driven by perceptual features, specifically the 'closure' created by a curved mouth, rather than negative emotional expression itself.
Current visual search tasks using schematic faces with curved mouths may not be a valid measure of attentional guidance by negative facial emotion.
Future research must control for perceptual confounds like 'closure' to accurately assess the role of emotional expression in visual attention.