Temporal-nasal asymmetry of rapid orienting to face-like stimuli

Recent work suggests that a subcortical visual route may mediate rapid orienting towards facial configuration in the visual periphery and not only to visual threat in faces. We demonstrate that the orienting bias towards faces shows a temporal-nasal visual field asymmetry of responses, suggesting its extrageniculate mediation. Upright schematic face-like pattern elicited faster behavioural responses than inverted one in the temporal but not in the nasal hemifield of each eye, and this effect occurred for saccades but not for manual responses. The presence of a similar asymmetry of the orienting bias in newborns supports the role of extrageniculate pathways in face detection in both neonates and adults.