Previous studies have found that responses to faces with fear expressions are greater when the face is shown with averted gaze (i.e. the person appears to be afraid of something nearby) than when the face is shown with direct gaze (i.e. the person appears to be afraid of you). For smiling faces, the reverse is true: responses to smiling faces are greater when the face is shown with direct gaze (i.e. the person is smiling at you) than when the face is shown with averted gaze (i.e. the person is smiling elsewhere). In the study you just completed, we are trying to replicate these previous findings. We predict that fearful faces will look more afraid with averted gaze than direct gaze but that smiling faces will look happier with direct gaze than averted gaze.
Much evidence suggests that faces are processed specially in the brain when they are upright, but that some of this special processing (called configural processing) is not done when faces are inverted. Therefore, we showed all the faces both upright and inverted. We predict that the effects will be stronger for upright than for inversted faces if configural processing contributes to the effect of gaze on emotion processing.
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| Neutral Direct | Neutral Averted | Happy Direct | Happy Averted | Afraid Direct | Afraid Averted |
| Expression | Percent Emotion Rated Stronger with Direct Gaze | |
|---|---|---|
| Upright Faces | Inverted Faces | |
| Neutral | +32% | +14% |
| Happy | +18% | +15% |
| Afraid | +5% | +10% |
If the numbers above are positive, then faces with direct gaze are perceived as having a stronger emotional expression. If the numbers are negative, then faces with averted gaze are perceived as having a stronger emotional expression.
- (in press). Integrating gaze direction and expression in preferences for attractive faces. Psychological Science.