Minimal exposure durations reveal visual processing priorities for different stimulus attributes

Renzo C. Lanfranco (), Andrés Canales-Johnson, Hugh Rabagliati, Axel Cleeremans and David Carmel ()
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Renzo C. Lanfranco: University of Edinburgh
Andrés Canales-Johnson: University of Cambridge
Hugh Rabagliati: University of Edinburgh
Axel Cleeremans: Université libre de Bruxelles
David Carmel: University of Edinburgh

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Human vision can detect a single photon, but the minimal exposure required to extract meaning from stimulation remains unknown. This requirement cannot be characterised by stimulus energy, because the system is differentially sensitive to attributes defined by configuration rather than physical amplitude. Determining minimal exposure durations required for processing various stimulus attributes can thus reveal the system’s priorities. Using a tachistoscope enabling arbitrarily brief displays, we establish minimal durations for processing human faces, a stimulus category whose perception is associated with several well-characterised behavioural and neural markers. Neural and psychophysical measures show a sequence of distinct minimal exposures for stimulation detection, object-level detection, face-specific processing, and emotion-specific processing. Resolving ongoing debates, face orientation affects minimal exposure but emotional expression does not. Awareness emerges with detection, showing no evidence of subliminal perception. These findings inform theories of visual processing and awareness, elucidating the information to which the visual system is attuned.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52778-5

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