Guo, Kun (2012) Holistic gaze strategy to categorize facial expression of varying intensities. Plos One, 7 (8). e42585. ISSN 1932-6203

Preview

PDF PLoS_One_2012-7(8)e42584.pdf - Whole Document Download (1654Kb)

Abstract

Using faces representing exaggerated emotional expressions, recent behaviour and eye-tracking studies have suggested a dominant role of individual facial features in transmitting diagnostic cues for decoding facial expressions. Considering that in everyday life we frequently view low-intensity expressive faces in which local facial cues are more ambiguous, we probably need to combine expressive cues from more than one facial feature to reliably decode naturalistic facial affects. In this study we applied a morphing technique to systematically vary intensities of six basic facial expressions of emotion, and employed a self-paced expression categorization task to measure participants’ categorization performance and associated gaze patterns. The analysis of pooled data from all expressions showed that increasing expression intensity would improve categorization accuracy, shorten reaction time and reduce number of fixations directed at faces. The proportion of fixations and viewing time directed at internal facial features (eyes, nose and mouth region), however, was not affected by varying levels of intensity. Further comparison between individual facial expressions revealed that although proportional gaze allocation at individual facial features was quantitatively modulated by the viewed expressions, the overall gaze distribution in face viewing was qualitatively similar across different facial expressions and different intensities. It seems that we adopt a holistic viewing strategy to extract expressive cues from all internal facial features in processing of naturalistic facial expressions.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Using faces representing exaggerated emotional expressions, recent behaviour and eye-tracking studies have suggested a dominant role of individual facial features in transmitting diagnostic cues for decoding facial expressions. Considering that in everyday life we frequently view low-intensity expressive faces in which local facial cues are more ambiguous, we probably need to combine expressive cues from more than one facial feature to reliably decode naturalistic facial affects. In this study we applied a morphing technique to systematically vary intensities of six basic facial expressions of emotion, and employed a self-paced expression categorization task to measure participants’ categorization performance and associated gaze patterns. The analysis of pooled data from all expressions showed that increasing expression intensity would improve categorization accuracy, shorten reaction time and reduce number of fixations directed at faces. The proportion of fixations and viewing time directed at internal facial features (eyes, nose and mouth region), however, was not affected by varying levels of intensity. Further comparison between individual facial expressions revealed that although proportional gaze allocation at individual facial features was quantitatively modulated by the viewed expressions, the overall gaze distribution in face viewing was qualitatively similar across different facial expressions and different intensities. It seems that we adopt a holistic viewing strategy to extract expressive cues from all internal facial features in processing of naturalistic facial expressions.
Keywords:	holistic gaze strategy, facial expression, facial cues
Subjects:	C Biological Sciences > C800 Psychology C Biological Sciences > C850 Cognitive Psychology C Biological Sciences > C830 Experimental Psychology
Divisions:	College of Social Sciences > Faculty of Health & Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Alison Wilson
Date Deposited:	09 Aug 2012 14:57
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 09:12
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/6037

Actions (login required)

View Item