On the 'special' status of emotional faces... Comment on Yang, Hong, and Blake (2010)

Adams, W., Gray, K. L. H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6071-4588, Garner, M. and Graf, E. (2011) On the 'special' status of emotional faces... Comment on Yang, Hong, and Blake (2010). Journal of Vision, 11 (3). pp. 1-4. ISSN 1534-7362 doi: 10.1167/11.3.10

Abstract/Summary

A wealth of literature suggests that emotional faces are given special status as visual objects: Cognitive models suggest that emotional stimuli, particularly threat-relevant facial expressions such as fear and anger, are prioritized in visual processing and may be identified by a subcortical “quick and dirty” pathway in the absence of awareness (Tamietto & de Gelder, 2010). Both neuroimaging studies (Williams, Morris, McGlone, Abbott, & Mattingley, 2004) and backward masking studies (Whalen, Rauch, Etcoff, McInerney, & Lee, 1998) have supported the notion of emotion processing without awareness. Recently, our own group (Adams, Gray, Garner, & Graf, 2010) showed adaptation to emotional faces that were rendered invisible using a variant of binocular rivalry: continual flash suppression (CFS, Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005). Here we (i) respond to Yang, Hong, and Blake's (2010) criticisms of our adaptation paper and (ii) provide a unified account of adaptation to facial expression, identity, and gender, under conditions of unawareness