What’s in a Gaze, What’s in a Face?

The Direct Gaze Effect Can Be Modulated by Emotion Expression

authored by

Roxana Pittig, Robrecht P.R.D. van der Wel, Timothy N. Welsh, Anne Böckler

Abstract

Gaze direction and emotion expression are salient facial features that facilitate social interactions. Previous studies addressed how gaze direction influences the evaluation and recognition of emotion expressions, but few have tested how emotion expression influences attentional processing of direct versus averted gaze faces. The present study examined whether the prioritization of direct gaze (toward the observer) relative to averted gaze (away from the observer) is modulated by the emotional expression of the observed face. Participants identified targets presented on the forehead of one of four faces in a 2 × 2 design (gaze direction: direct/averted; motion: sudden/static). Emotion expressions of the faces (neutral, angry, fearful, happy, disgusted) differed across participants. Direct gaze effects emerged—response times were shorter for targets on direct gaze than on averted gaze faces. This direct gaze effect was enhanced in angry faces (approach-oriented) and reduced in fearful faces (avoidance-oriented). “Weaker” approachand avoidance-oriented expressions (happy and disgusted) did not modulate the direct gaze effect. These findings suggest that the context of facial emotion expressions influences attentional processing.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Psychology

External Organisation(s)

Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
Rutgers University
University of Toronto

Type

Article

Journal

EMOTION

Volume

23

Pages

400-411

No. of pages

12

ISSN

1528-3542

Publication date

2023

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychology(all)

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001076 (Access: Closed)