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Facing Faces: the influence of facial expression and gaze direction on selective attention
Full text linkAbstract
The present thesis addresses whether and how some of the information conveyed by faces
affects selective attention. This is an important question as faces convey a rich source of affective
and social information, playing a key role in social cognition. Specifically, facial expressions allow
us to draw inferences about individuals’ emotional state, whereas the direction of eye gaze provides
information about others’ interests and focus of attention.
Across five studies, and a total of 11 experiments, the question of whether processing these facial
signals is efficient and it affects selective attention is investigated. More specifically, after a brief
review of the theories on face processing that are most relevant to the work reported in the present
thesis (Chapter 1) and a review of the empirical evidence (Chapter 2), the first two studies used a
Rapid Serial Visual Presentation paradigm to investigate the effect of emotional faces on temporal
selective attention (Chapter 3). Study 1 showed that briefly presented positive (happy) and negative
(angry) target faces differently affect temporal selective attention already at early lags (i.e., 83-166
ms). Study 2, revealed that the early valence-effect on temporal attention occurs also when using
task-irrelevant positive (happy) and negative (fearful) hybrid stimuli, obtained by masking an
emotional expression conveyed only at Low Spatial Frequency (LSF) with a neutral expression
conveyed at high spatial frequency. Study 3 (Chapter 4) investigated whether affective evaluations
of emotional expressions (happy, angry, fearful, surprised and neutral faces) are modulated by gaze
direction (straight gaze, directed to the observer or averted gaze, away from the observer) when the
face stimulus is presented rapidly (300 ms) in full broadband (Exp.1) or in the hybrid version
(Exp.2). Findings showed that regardless of the affective content visibility, both facial expression
and gaze direction modulate participants’ responses, but they did so independently. In study 4,
(Chapter 4) the effect of gaze direction on observer’s overt (eye movement) orienting was
investigating using faces embedded in complex scenes. Eyes movements results showed that
participants spontaneously (during a free viewing task) follow the gaze direction of the face
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depicted in the scene and this gaze following response occurred also when the scene was presented
rapidly (during a visual search task) and without overt attention on the face. Finally, in study 5
(Chapter 5), a static (Exp. 1 and 2) and dynamic (Exp.3 and 4) gaze cueing task were used to
investigate whether gaze direction and facial expression differently affect observer’s attention in
older (Exp. 1 and 3) and young (Exp. 2 and 4) adults. Results showed preserved gaze following in
old adults, although it was reduced compared to young adult for static cues only. Interestingly, in all
experiments, facial expressions did not modulate gaze following response in young adults, whereas
it did in older adults, indicative of an age-related emotion regulation strategy (i.e., positivity bias).
In summary, the experimental evidence reported in the present thesis showed that individuals are
highly sensitive to expression and gaze information, and that they are able to rapidly and efficiently
process these facial signals even in condition of constrained attention (i.e., when they are rapidly
presented in a stream of distractor-stimuli, when facial expression are filtered at LSF and masked
by a neutral expression, when gaze direction is presented peripherally, out of the attentional focus,
or it is presented centrally but it is task-irrelevant). In addition, the ability to process socio-affective
signal from faces is preserved in older, healthy adults, especially when a more ecological procedure
is used (dynamic cues) and it is indicative of attention deployment strategy toward positive signals
from young, unfamiliar people and away from positive signals from their unfamiliar peers
Su un'osservazione di leiomiosarcoma polmonare. Implicazioni cliniche e considerazioni anatomo-patologiche.
No full textLA CHIRURGIA TORACICA (ROMA
Differences in lightness in achromatic transparency
No full textIt is presently unresolved whether lightnesses or differences in lightness are appropriate independent variables for models of the perceived degree of achromatic transparency. The experiment reported here shows that differences in lightness rather than lightnesses affected the rated degree of transparency and that local changes in differences in lightness altered the rated degree of transparency locally. These results indicate that models of the perceived degree of transparency should be separately formulated for the different parts of a transparent surface and for the whole transparent surface. Two new models of the combined effects of differences in lightness on the perceived degree of transparency are proposed
Test of the validity of the judged sensory ratio of 1:2
No full textGarner found that observers judged the sensory ratio of 1:2 invalidly; however, it is possible that in Garner's experiment judgments were influenced by the different sets of variable stimuli used for the test. This paper reports an experiment designed to test the validity of the judged sensory ratio of 1:2 without using different sets of variable stimuli. Bipolar continua of brightness and darkness were used. Participants first adjusted a brightness so that it was the double of a standard brightness located between the middle and the black end of the brightness continuum and subsequently adjusted a brightness so that it was the double of this double (the quadruple of the original standard brightness), or adjusted a darkness so that it was the double of a standard darkness located between the middle and the white end of the darkness continuum and subsequently adjusted a darkness so that it was the double of this double (the quadruple of the original standard darkness). Participants reported quadruples of each standard even if such quadruples could not exist in the bipolar continuum. This confirms that participants judged the sensory ratio of 1:2 invalidly
The effect of prior stimulus information upon category ratings
No full textThe paper reports the result of a psychophysics experiment conducted in order to estimate the effect of prior stimulus information upon category rating
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Diet, physical, and biochemical characteristics of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: relationship between dietary fat and glucose control.
No full textMaffeis C, Morandi A, Ventura E, Sabbion A, Contreas G, Tomasselli F, Tommasi M, Fasan I, Costantini S, Pinelli L. Diet, physical, and biochemical characteristics of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: relationship between dietary fat and glucose control. Background: Nutritional habits may significantly influence glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Aims: To assess dietary intake, cardiovascular risk factors, and the association between diet composition and glycemic control in Italian youth with T1D. Methods: Subjects included 114 youth aged 6-16 yr with T1D receiving a routine treatment program with nutrition counseling and 448 controls. Cross-sectional measures included dietary intake, anthropometry, blood pressure, lipid profile, and, in children with diabetes, HbA1c. Results: In prepubertal children, BMI, subcutaneous skinfolds, the prevalence of overweight/obesity, and LDL cholesterol (LDL-CH) were significantly lower in patients than in controls, whereas HDL cholesterol (HDL-CH) was higher. Pubertal boys with T1D did not differ significantly from controls in either anthropometry or lipid profile. Pubertal girls with T1D had a higher BMI and higher triceps skinfolds than controls but not significantly different prevalence of overweight/obesity or lipid profile. Compared to controls, participants with T1D had a lower intake of lipids and simple carbohydrates, a higher ratio of unsaturated/saturated fats and fibre, and a dietary intake closer to the National Reference Dietary Intakes (RDIs). The odds of having an HbA1c higher than 7.5, adjusted for BMI, lipid, and fibre intake, increases by 53\% for every 1\% increase of energy intake from saturated fat in the diet and by 30\% for every year of duration of diabetes. Conclusions: Youth with T1D having regular nutritional counseling had a diet closer to RDIs than controls and not different cardiovascular risk factors. High saturated fatty acid intake was associated with poor blood glucose control
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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