Article

The face conveys a rich source of non-verbal information used during social
communication. While research has revealed how specific facial channels such as
emotional expression are processed, little is known about the prioritization and
integration of multiple cues in the face during dyadic exchanges. Classic models
of face perception have emphasized the segregation of dynamic vs. static facial
features along independent information processing pathways. Here we review recent
behavioral and neuroscientific evidence suggesting that within the dynamic
stream, concurrent changes in eye gaze and emotional expression can yield early
independent effects on face judgments and covert shifts of visuospatial
attention. These effects are partially segregated within initial visual afferent
processing volleys, but are subsequently integrated in limbic regions such as the
amygdala or via reentrant visual processing volleys. This spatiotemporal pattern
may help to resolve otherwise perplexing discrepancies across behavioral studies
of emotional influences on gaze-directed attentional cueing. Theoretical
explanations of gaze-expression interactions are discussed, with special
consideration of speed-of-processing (discriminability) and contextual
(ambiguity) accounts. Future research in this area promises to reveal the mental
chronometry of face processing and interpersonal attention, with implications for
understanding how social referencing develops in infancy and is impaired in
autism and other disorders of social cognition.
CI - Copyright A(c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS