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Uncertainties and discrepant results in identifying crucial areas for emotional facial expression recognition may stem from the eye tracking data analysis methods used. Many studies employ parameters of analysis that predominantly prioritize the examination of the foveal vision angle, ignoring the potential influences of simultaneous parafoveal and peripheral information. To explore the possible underlying causes of these discrepancies, we investigated the role of the visual field aperture in emotional facial expression recognition with 163 volunteers randomly assigned to three groups: no visual restriction (NVR), parafoveal and foveal vision (PFFV), and foveal vision (FV). Employing eye tracking and gaze contingency, we collected visual inspection and judgment data over 30 frontal face images, equally distributed among five emotions. Raw eye tracking data underwent Eye Movements Metrics and Visualizations (EyeMMV) processing. Accordingly, the visual inspection time, number of fixations, and fixation duration increased with the visual field restriction. Nevertheless, the accuracy showed significant differences among the NVR/FV and PFFV/FV groups, despite there being no difference in NVR/PFFV. The findings underscore the impact of specific visual field areas on facial expression recognition, highlighting the importance of parafoveal vision. The results suggest that eye tracking data analysis methods should incorporate projection angles extending to at least the parafoveal level.

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Brazilian adapted version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS-BR) in a sample of adults in Brazil. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the CAS-BR produces a reliable (α = .84), unidimensional construct whose structure was shown to be invariant across gender, race, and age. However, some items of the CAS-BR were stronger indicators of the coronavirus anxiety construct for women and younger adults. Although the CAS-BR demonstrated evidence of discrimination ability for functional impairment (AUC = .77), Youden indexes were low to identify a clinical cut-score. Construct validity was demonstrated with correlations between CAS-BR scores and measures of functional impairment, generalized anxiety, and depression. Exploratory analyses revealed that CAS-BR total scores were higher among women and participants with a history of anxiety disorder. These findings are consistent with previous investigations and support the validity of CAS-BR for measuring coronavirus anxiety with Brazilian adults.

Previous findings suggest a right hemispheric contribution to body image distortions only in women. Here we set out to replicate this finding and investigate whether the sex of the body image would play a role in this lateralization. We report here two experiments of body size estimation using the divided visual field methodology. In Experiment 1 we found no effect of visual field, participant sex, and body image sex. We discuss the results in terms of the androgynous-like stimuli appearance. In Experiment 2 we increased the dimorphism of body image stimuli. Surprisingly, we observed a different pattern. Both men and women overestimated the size of female models presented in both visual fields, but the size of male models was underestimated for presentations in the left visual field compared to presentations in the right visual field. We found no differences between men and women. Our results suggest that the differences in lateralization of body image distortions between men and women observed in previous studies can be attributed to the sex of the body image. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that the sex of the body image modulates lateralization and body image distortion.

The divided visual field technique was used to investigate the pattern of brain asymmetry in the perception of positive/approach and negative/withdrawal facial expressions. A total of 80 undergraduate students (65 female, 15 male) were distributed in five experimental groups in order to investigate separately the perception of expressions of happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, and the neutral face. In each trial a target and a distractor expression were presented simultaneously in a computer screen for 150 ms and participants had to determine the side (left or right) on which the target expression was presented. Results indicated that expressions of happiness and fear were identified faster when presented in the left visual field, suggesting an advantage of the right hemisphere in the perception of these expressions. Fewer judgement errors and faster reaction times were also observed for the matching condition in which emotional faces were presented in the left visual field and neutral faces in the right visual field. Other results indicated that positive expressions (happiness and surprise) were perceived faster and more accurately than negative ones (sadness and fear). Main results tend to support the right hemisphere hypothesis, which predicts a better performance of the right hemisphere to perceive emotions, as opposed to the approach-withdrawal hypothesis.

Visual performance for judging the length of a simultaneously presented pair of radial lines, reciprocally opposed by 180 degrees at a central fixation point, was assessed for 24 radial positions of test lines, for three viewing conditions (binocular, left and right monocular) and five different standard line sizes (1.43-7.13 degrees ). Generally, the results showed underestimation of the test line. Furthermore, clear visual field asymmetries were observed between the upper versus lower visual fields and the left versus right visual fields with greater underestimation for test lines presented in the lower and right visual fields. Also, asymmetries tended to be strongest along the 30 and 150 degrees radial orientations. Fourier analysis indicated that these asymmetries are mainly described by summing up the f0, f1, f2 and f5 components.

An unfamiliar configuration lying in depth and viewed from a distance is typically seen as foreshortened. The hypothesis motivating this research was that a change in an observer's viewpoint even when the configuration is no longer visible induces an imaginal updating of the internal representation and thus reduces the degree of foreshortening. In experiment 1, observers attempted to reproduce configurations defined by three small glowing balls on a table 2 m distant under conditions of darkness following 'viewpoint change' instructions. In one condition, observers reproduced the continuously visible configuration using three other glowing balls on a nearer table while imagining standing at the distant table. In the other condition, observers viewed the configuration, it was then removed, and they walked in darkness to the far table and reproduced the configuration. Even though the observers received no additional information about the stimulus configuration in walking to the table, they were more accurate (less foreshortening) than in the other condition. In experiment 2, observers reproduced distant configurations on a nearer table more accurately when doing so from memory than when doing so while viewing the distant stimulus configuration. In experiment 3, observers performed both the real and imagined perspective change after memorizing the remote configuration. The results of the three experiments indicate that the continued visual presence of the target configuration impedes imaginary perspective-change performance and that an actual change in viewpoint does not increase reproduction accuracy substantially over that obtained with an imagined change in viewpoint.

Two triangulation methods for measuring perceived egocentric distance were examined. In the triangulation-by-pointing procedure, the observer views a target at some distance and, with eyes closed, attempts to point continuously at the target while traversing a path that passes by it. In the triangulation-by-walking procedure, the observer views a target and, with eyes closed, traverses a path that is oblique to the target; on command from the experimenter, the observer turns and walks toward the target. Two experiments using pointing and 3 using walking showed that perceived distance, averaged over observers, was accurate out to 15 m under full-cue conditions. For target distances between 15 and 25 m, the evidence indicates slight perceptual underestimation. Results also show that observers, on average, were accurate in imaginally updating the locations of previously viewed targets.

The results of two types of experiments are reported. In 1 type, Ss matched depth intervals on the ground plane that appeared equal to frontal intervals at the same distance. The depth intervals had to be made considerably larger than the frontal intervals to appear equal in length, with this physical inequality of equal-appearing intervals increasing with egocentric distance of the intervals (4 m-12 m). In the other type of experiment, Ss viewed targets lying on the ground plane and then, with eyes closed, attempted either to walk directly to their locations or to point continuously toward them while walking along paths that passed off to the side. Performance was quite accurate in both motoric tasks, indicating that the distortion in the mapping from physical to visual space evident in the visual matching task does not manifest itself in the visually open-loop motoric tasks.

Exp. 1 examined correlations of the power functions exponents for individual observers, for apparent distance in a natural indoor setting, obtained for a group of 9 observers over 5 experimental sessions separated by intersession intervals that varied from 1 day to 9 mo. Stable individual differences in the exponent of the psychophysical power law were shown. Intercorrelations of subjects' exponents were positive and reliable with 1 day between sessions and 9 mo. In Exp. 2 the estimates of apparent distance were made by 5 independent groups of 10 observers each, tested and retested at different intersession intervals. There were 5 intervals of 1 day to 9 mo. Fair temporal stability of psychophysical power function exponents was observed in most groups. In Exp. 3 psychophysical power functions were obtained from magnitude estimates of apparent distance in a natural outdoor setting. The same 10 observers were tested and then retested after 1 day and again after 1 yr. Significant correlations for both intersessions intervals indicated consistent and persisting individual differences. Taken together Exps. 1, 2, and 3, regardless of the environment in which distance estimates were performed, clearly demonstrate that power functions are repeatable, enduring, and characteristic of individuals. In addition, the mean exponents were in reasonable agreement with other reported apparent distance exponents obtained in both settings.

1. Using a 0.9 x 4.0 m visual alley, perceived absolute distance was studied in four groups of subjects: binocular, cross-eyed, monocular, and induced-monocular individuals. 2. A power function between the different physical and perceived distances was adjusted and the relative and absolute errors made by the observers were calculated. Despite a tendency to overestimate distance in the monocular group, no significant differences were detected among groups. 3. The data suggest that, under natural-cue conditions, binocularity is not a determining factor for the perception of absolute distance.

In this paper we made two brief commentaries on Harver's (1987) experiment. The first comment is an observation on the growing area of respiratory psychophysics for which we prefer the name Behavioral Physiology. In the second comment it is suggested that the stable individual differences in the exponent of the psychophysical power law reported by Harver may be an artifact of the psychophysical method employed: category production.