title: The world smiles at me: self-referential positivity bias when interpreting direction of attention.
abstract: Recent research suggests that eye-gaze direction modulates perceived emotional expression. Here we explore the extent to which emotion affects interpretation of attention direction. We captured three-dimensional face models of 8 actors expressing happy, fearful, angry and neutral emotions. From these 3D models 9 views were extracted (0°, 2°, 4°, 6°, 8° to the left and right). These stimuli were randomly presented for 150 ms. Using a forced-choice paradigm 28 participants judged for each face whether or not it was attending to them. Two conditions were tested: either the whole face was visible, or the eyes were covered. In both conditions happy faces elicited most "attending-to-me" answers. Thus, emotional expression has a more general effect than an influence on gaze direction: emotion affects interpretation of attention direction. We interpret these results as a self-referential positivity bias, suggesting a general preference to associate a happy face with the self.
authors: University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK. janek@perceptionlab.com
authors: Janek S
authors: JS
authors: Lobmaier
authors: David I
authors: DI
authors: Perrett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D012649:Self Concept; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception