Abstract
We investigated whether attractiveness ratings of expressive faces would be affected by gaze shifts towards or away from the observer. In all experiments, effects of facial expression were found, with higher attractiveness ratings to positive over negative expressions, irrespective of effects of gaze-shifts. In the first experiment faces with gaze shifts away from the observer were preferred. However, when the dynamics of the gaze shift was disrupted, by adding an intermediate delay, the effect of direction of gaze shift disappeared. By manipulating the relative duration of each gaze direction during a gaze shift we found higher attractiveness ratings to faces with a longer duration of direct gaze, particularly in the initial exposure to a face. Our findings suggest that although the temporal dynamics of eye gaze and facial expressions influence the aesthetic evaluation of faces, these cues appear to act independently rather than in an integrated manner for social perception.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 831-852 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Visual Cognition |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 26 2018 |
Keywords
- expression
- Face perception
- facial attractiveness
- gaze duration
- gaze shift
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Cognitive Neuroscience