Emotional attention: effects of emotion and gaze direction on overt orienting of visual attention

Abstract

In the present study we considered the two factors that have been advocated for playing a role in emotional attention: perception of gaze direction and facial expression of emotions. Participants performed an oculomotor task in which they had to make a saccade towards one of the two lateral targets, depending on the colour of the fixation dot which appeared at the centre of the computer screen. At different time intervals (stimulus onset asynchronies, SOAs: 50,100,150 ms) following the onset of the dot, a picture of a human face (gazing either to the right or to the left) was presented at the centre of the screen. The gaze direction of the face could be congruent or incongruent with respect to the location of the target, and the expression could be neutral or angry. In Experiment 1 the facial expressions were presented randomly in a single block, whereas in Experiment 2 they were shown in separate blocks. Latencies for correct saccades and percentage of errors (saccade direction errors) were considered in the analyses. Results showed that incongruent trials determined a significantly higher percentage of saccade direction errors with respect to congruent trials, thus confirming that gaze direction, even when task-irrelevant, interferes with the accuracy of the observer's oculomotor behaviour. The angry expression was found to hold attention for a longer time with respect to the neutral one, producing delayed saccade latencies. This was particularly evident at 100 ms SOA and for incongruent trials. Emotional faces may then exert a modulatory effect on overt attention mechanisms.

Gaze cueing elicited by emotional faces is influenced by affective context

“…Similarly, Bayliss et al (2007) demonstrated identical cueing effects for happy and disgusted faces. Bonifacci, Ricciardelli, Lugli, and Pellicano (2008) showed equivalent effects on overt orienting of gaze produced by angry and neutral faces (though the angry faces held attention, as described by Fox, Russo, & Dutton, 2002). That happy faces produce equivalent cueing effects as neutral faces is also supported by work by Holmes, Richards, and Green (2006) and Pecchinenda, Pes, Ferlazzo, and Zoccolotti (2008).…”

Face age modulates gaze following in young adults

“…In terms of stimulus-driven mechanisms, it has recently been shown that social attention is sensitive to facial cues other than gaze direction, such as facial physical self-similarity14, facial masculinity which provides cues of dominance1516, and emotional expressions1718. For example, Hungr and Hunt14 manipulated self-similarity by morphing the face of each participant with those of strangers and found a stronger gaze cueing effect when self-similar faces were created by morphing in equal proportion the participant's face with that of a stranger of the same gender (a manipulation that made explicit the recognition of the participants in the cueing face), suggesting that the perceived self-similarity of a distracting face influences the degree to which participants use gaze direction to orient their own attention14.…”

Effect of Gaze Direction on Orienting of Attention in Patients with Schizophrenia: Attention or Social Cognition Deficit?

“…Previous studies have used gaze cues embedded in a face stimulus to signal the location of an target [22,37]. The face is a complex stimulus.…”

“…On the other hand, if the target appears in a different position from the cue, the attention must first be unlocked from the area indicated by the cue and then redirected to the new location. The high number of cognitive operations required to process an invalid target involves a great reaction time [21,22].…”