Change blindness to gradual changes in facial expressions

Abstract

Change blindness - our inability to detect changes in a stimulus - occurs even when the change takes place gradually, without disruption (Simons, Franconeri, & Reimer, 2000). Such gradual changes are more difficult to detect than changes that involve a disruption. In this experiment, we extend previous findings to the domain of facial expressions of emotions occurring in the context of a realistic scene. Even with changes occurring in central, highly relevant stimuli such as faces, gradual changes still produced high levels of change blindness: Detection rates were three times lower for gradual changes than for displays involving disruption, with only 15% of the observers perceiving the gradual change within a single trial. However, despite this high rate of change blindness, changes on faces were significantly better detected than colour changes occurring on non facial objects in the same scene.