PMID- 30733511 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20200828 LR - 20200828 IS - 2045-2322 (Electronic) IS - 2045-2322 (Linking) VI - 9 IP - 1 DP - 2019 Feb 7 TI - The Flashed Face Distortion Effect Does Not Depend on Face-Specific Mechanisms. PG - 1612 LID - 10.1038/s41598-018-37991-9 [doi] LID - 1612 AB - When normal faces are rapidly presented in the visual periphery, they are perceived as grotesque and distorted. This phenomenon, "The flashed-face distortion effect" (FFDE) is a powerful illusion that may reveal important properties of how faces are coded in peripheral vision. Despite the strength of the illusion (and its popularity), there has been almost no follow-up work to examine what governs the strength of the illusion or to develop a clear account of its phenomenology. Presently, our goal was to address this by manipulating aspects of facial appearance and spatial/temporal properties of the flashed-face stimulus to determine what factors modulate the illusion's strength. In three experiments, we investigated the extent to which local contrast (operationalized by the presence or absence of makeup), image eccentricity, image size, face inversion, and presentation rate of images within the sequence each contributed to the strength of the FFDE. We found that some of these factors (eccentricity and presentation rate) mattered a great deal, while others (makeup, face inversion and image size) made little contribution to the strength of the FFDE. We discuss the implications of these results for a mechanistic account of the FFDE, and suggest several avenues for future research based on this compelling visual illusion. FAU - Balas, Benjamin AU - Balas B AD - Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, North Dakota, USA. benjamin.balas@ndsu.edu. AD - Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, North Dakota State University, North Dakota, USA. benjamin.balas@ndsu.edu. FAU - Pearson, Hannah AU - Pearson H AD - Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, North Dakota, USA. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. DEP - 20190207 PL - England TA - Sci Rep JT - Scientific reports JID - 101563288 SB - IM MH - Adolescent MH - *Face MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Illusions/*physiology MH - Male MH - Visual Perception/*physiology MH - Young Adult PMC - PMC6367465 COIS- The authors declare no competing interests. EDAT- 2019/02/09 06:00 MHDA- 2020/08/29 06:00 PMCR- 2019/02/07 CRDT- 2019/02/09 06:00 PHST- 2018/06/18 00:00 [received] PHST- 2018/12/06 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2019/02/09 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2019/02/09 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2020/08/29 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2019/02/07 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.1038/s41598-018-37991-9 [pii] AID - 37991 [pii] AID - 10.1038/s41598-018-37991-9 [doi] PST - epublish SO - Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 7;9(1):1612. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37991-9.