ABSTRACT
Given that the rapid processing of social information is critical for human interaction, the unconscious processing of such information seems to be advantageous for survival and normal development. This chapter pursues the question of the extent to which social information is processed in the absence of awareness by focusing on two different aspects. (1) Is socially relevant information processed even when it is entirely suppressed from visual awareness? (2) Does social information have privileged access to visual awareness? Regarding these two aspects, we review the research on the processing of emotional face expressions, the learned relevance of faces, and eye gaze. This is complemented with a discussion of the supposed underlying neural pathway, the so-called “low road”, by weighing the evidence in favor of and against such a pathway. Finally, we illustrate how the unconscious processing of social information and impairments therein plays a role in the understanding, and potentially the treatment, of psychiatric disorders.
