Distinct contributions to facial emotion perception of foveated vs nonfoveated facial features.

Abstract

Foveated stimuli receive visual processing that is quantitatively and qualitatively different from non-foveated stimuli. At normal interpersonal distances, people move their eyes around another’s face so that certain features receive foveal processing; on any given fixation, other features therefore project extrafoveally. Yet little is known about the processing of extrafoveally-presented facial features, how informative those extrafoveally-presented features are for face perception (e.g., for assessing another’s emotion), or what processes extract task-relevant (e.g., emotion-related) cues from facial features that first appear outside the fovea, and how these processes are implemented in the brain.