Emotional triangles: A test of emotion-based attentional capture by simple geometric shapes

Watson, Derrick G.; Blagrove, Elisabeth; Selwood, Sally · 2011 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2010.525861

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Summary

This study investigates whether simple geometric shapes associated with negative emotional expressions, specifically downward-pointing triangles, capture attention more efficiently than upward-pointing triangles. The research addresses conflicting findings in prior literature regarding whether such shapes attract attention due to their emotional connotation or due to visual properties like perspective congruency. The authors aimed to replicate previous findings using a more rigorous experimental design that varied set sizes and stimulus arrangements to isolate attentional capture from response biases and texture segmentation effects. The study comprised two experiments using visual search tasks. In Experiment 1, 24 participants searched for either a downward-pointing (threat-related) or upward-pointing (non-threat) triangle target amidst distractors of the opposite orientation. Unlike previous studies that used fixed grids, this experiment employed random configurations with varying set sizes (8, 16, or 24 items) to calculate search slopes, a precise measure of attentional guidance. Experiment 2 tested an alternative hypothesis: that the advantage for downward triangles stems from their incongruence with standard scene perspective (e.g., ground planes). To test this, 24 participants performed the same search task, but displays were framed within either a "floor" or "ceiling" trapezium to manipulate perceived perspective. Experiment 1 demonstrated that downward-pointing targets were detected faster and with shallower search slopes (4.2 ms/item) compared to upward-pointing targets (11.1 ms/item). This efficiency advantage persisted across all set sizes, indicating that the threat-related shape captured attention more effectively rather than merely facilitating post-detection responses. Error rates mirrored these findings, with fewer errors for downward targets. Experiment 2 found that the advantage for downward-pointing triangles remained significant regardless of whether the display was framed as a floor or a ceiling. If perspective congruency drove the effect, the advantage should have reversed in the ceiling context; however, the downward triangle remained superior in both conditions. The results provide converging evidence that simple geometric shapes carrying features of negative facial expressions (such as V-shaped eyebrows) preferentially capture attention even when presented outside of a face context. By ruling out alternative explanations based on perspective cues and response biases, the study supports the theory that the visual system is tuned to detect threat-related signals rapidly. This suggests that the attentional advantage for negative stimuli is robust and ecologically adaptive, functioning effectively even when the emotional content is reduced to its most basic geometric components.

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• visual search