Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

5.5K
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,...
5.5K
Facial Feedback Hypothesis01:24

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

190
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...
190
Prosopagnosia01:24

Prosopagnosia

208
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...
208
Visual Agnosia01:12

Visual Agnosia

237
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...
237
Accessory Structures of the Eye01:17

Accessory Structures of the Eye

1.6K
Optical perception, or vision, is an extraordinary sense dependent on converting light signals received via the ocular organs. These organs, known as eyes, are securely positioned within the bony cavities of the skull, called orbits. The orbits serve a dual purpose: a protective shield for the ocular globes and a stable attachment point for the soft ocular tissues. The eye's external protective mechanisms include the eyelids, which are edged with lashes that act as a barrier against foreign...
1.6K
Muscles for Facial Expressions01:14

Muscles for Facial Expressions

2.2K
The craniofacial muscles are a collection of approximately 20 thin skeletal muscles situated beneath the skin of the face and scalp. These muscles, primarily responsible for the vast array of human facial expressions, originate from the bones or fibrous structures of the skull and extend outwards to connect with the skin. While most skeletal muscles in the body are enveloped in thick fascia, facial muscles generally have a more delicate fascial covering, with the buccinator muscle being a...
2.2K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Active vision is linked to category selectivity in the individual brain.

Nature human behaviour·2026
Same author

Where You Look Is What You Get: Individual Fixation Height Predicts Biases in Face Perception.

Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science·2026
Same author

Detection, Inspection, Return: An Object-Based Classification and Metric of Fixations in Complex Scenes.

Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science·2026
Same author

Protracted development of gaze behaviour.

Nature human behaviour·2025
Same author

Individual gaze predicts individual scene descriptions.

Scientific reports·2025
Same author

Study protocol TransTAM: Transdiagnostic research into emotional disorders and cognitive-behavioral therapy of the adaptive mind.

BMC psychiatry·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
06:46

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

7.1K

Faces in scenes attract rapid saccades.

Petra Borovska1,2, Benjamin de Haas1,3

  • 1Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.

Journal of Vision
|August 8, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human vision processes faces differently during natural viewing. Face-directed eye movements (saccades) show shorter preceding fixations and higher velocity, suggesting specialized visual system mechanisms for high-level features.

More Related Videos

Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
07:53

Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Published on: August 5, 2022

2.1K
Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
09:03

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Published on: March 27, 2012

45.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
06:46

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

7.1K
Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
07:53

Group Synchronization During Collaborative Drawing Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Published on: August 5, 2022

2.1K
Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
09:03

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism

Published on: March 27, 2012

45.7K

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception
  • Ophthalmology

Background:

  • The human visual system must process stimuli at the fovea and anticipate future eye movements (saccades) simultaneously.
  • Previous research indicates faster, more directed saccades towards isolated faces, but this is less understood in complex natural scenes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how free-viewing dynamics, specifically saccade characteristics, are influenced by the nature of the upcoming fixation target (faces vs. inanimate objects).
  • To determine the extent to which high-level features of peripheral stimuli are processed amidst visual clutter and competing central input.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of eye-movement data during natural scene free-viewing.
  • Controlled for low-level visual factors while examining saccade latency, duration, and velocity in relation to fixation targets.
  • Comparison of saccades directed towards faces versus inanimate objects.

Main Results:

  • Saccades directed towards faces exhibited significantly shorter preceding fixation durations and higher peak velocities compared to those directed at inanimate objects.
  • The influence on fixation duration was specific to small, face-directed saccades early in trials, aligning with attention shift models.
  • The enhancement in saccadic velocity was observed for larger saccades and increased over the trial duration, indicating distinct underlying mechanisms.

Conclusions:

  • The visual system employs multiple, independent mechanisms to process high-level features of extrafoveal targets.
  • These mechanisms interact to modulate the dynamics of natural vision, influencing both fixation durations and saccadic behavior.
  • Specialized processing for faces impacts early, short saccades, while broader mechanisms affect later, larger saccades, demonstrating a complex interplay in visual perception.