The effect of emotional faces on eye movements and attention

Hunt, Amelia R.; Cooper, Robbie M.; Hungr, Clara; Kingstone, Alan

Abstract

The present study investigated the nature of attention to facial expressions using an oculomotor capture paradigm. Participants were required to make a speeded saccade toward a predefined target and ignore distractors. The valence (happy or angry) and orientation (upright or inverted) of the target and distractors varied. We found evidence that irrelevant happy and angry face distractors did capture attention, but only when emotions were the target of search. Eye movements were not directed toward angry distractors any more often than toward happy distractors, and saccades to angry face targets were no faster than to other targets. The results provide evidence that emotion information can be used as a feature to voluntarily select targets and direct attention, suggesting attention is not necessary for the identification of emotional expression. There was no evidence, however, that angry face stimuli have a special priority for reflexively orienting attention.

Citation

Hunt, A. R., Cooper, R. M., Hungr, C., & Kingstone, A. (2007). The effect of emotional faces on eye movements and attention. Visual Cognition, 15(5), 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506280600843346

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 16, 2007
• Publication Date: 2007-07
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2012
• Print ISSN: 1350-6285
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-0716
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 513-531
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13506280600843346
• Keywords: Facial expression, oculomotor capture paradigm, emotion information
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/4892