Emotional attention: effects of emotion and gaze direction on overt orienting of visual attention |
| |
Authors: | Paola Bonifacci Paola Ricciardelli Luisa Lugli Antonello Pellicano |
| |
Institution: | (1) Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat n.5, 40127 Bologna, Italy;(2) Dipartimento di Psicologia, University Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy;(3) Dipartimento Discipline della Comunicazione, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy |
| |
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. |
| |
Keywords: | Gaze direction Emotion Orienting of attention Eye movements |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|