{I wonder whether the difference below *is* biological - due to narrower
eyes taking that little bit longer to process?]
Culture Shapes How We Look at Faces
Caroline Blais1,2, Rachael E. Jack1, Christoph Scheepers1, Daniel Fiset1,2,
Roberto Caldara1
1 Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom,
2 Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Abstract
Background
Face processing, amongst many basic visual skills, is thought to be
invariant across all humans. From as early as 1965, studies of eye movements
have consistently revealed a systematic triangular sequence of fixations
over the eyes and the mouth, suggesting that faces elicit a universal,
biologically-determined information extraction pattern.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Here we monitored the eye movements of Western Caucasian and East Asian
observers while they learned, recognized, and categorized by race Western
Caucasian and East Asian faces. Western Caucasian observers reproduced a
scattered triangular pattern of fixations for faces of both races and across
tasks. Contrary to intuition, East Asian observers focused more on the
central region of the face.
Conclusions/Significance
These results demonstrate that face processing can no longer be considered
as arising from a universal series of perceptual events. The strategy
employed to extract visual information from faces differs across cultures.
Source: PLoS One [Open Access]
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003022
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agi
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