Figure 1. Diagram demonstrating elements of the visual target identification task.

A) A block sequence in the low perceptual load without distractor condition. First, the instruction screen shows “Please Identify” above an elongated nose, for 5 seconds. The elongated nose informs the participants to identify targets in the next task block based on nose shape. During the task block, 16 faces are presented one at a time, for 100 ms each (with 1.1 second inter-stimulus interval). B) A block sequence in the high perceptual load without distractor condition. The instruction screen shows “Please Identify” above two faces without a nose, which informs the participants to identify targets matching the unique combination of face color, and shapes of face, eyes, and mouth in the next task block. C. An example of a face overlaid on a background distractor (i.e., scene picture). The same 64 scene pictures were used in task blocks of both low and high perceptual load. The same instruction screens for low and high perceptual load were used in the distractor and no-distractor conditions.