Organisation of practice trials (top row) and regular experimental trials (bottom row) in all experiments. The stimuli are examples taken from the main experiment that used faces (Experiment 1). A trial started with a blank screen for 1000 ms, followed by the presentation of a fixation point for 200 ms. Then, after a random delay ranging from 500 to 1000 ms, a stimulus was presented for 53 ms. During practice trials, a choice screen appeared immediately after the stimulus, showing the two targets of the experiment and their associated response keys. The screen stayed on until the subject's response, which was followed by auditory feedback, before the trial sequence resumed. During regular trials, a blank screen appeared immediately after the stimulus, and remained on until the subject's response. No feedback was provided during regular trials. Note that stimuli are not drawn to scale.