Abstract

Eye tracking has been used during face categorisation and identification tasks to identify perceptually
salient facial features and infer underlying cognitive processes. However, viewing patterns are influenced
by a variety of gaze biases, drawing fixations to the centre of a screen and horizontally to the left side of
face images (left-gaze bias). In order to investigate potential interactions between gaze biases uniquely
associated with facial expression processing, and those associated with screen location, face stimuli
were presented in three possible screen positions to the left, right and centre. Comparisons of fixations
between screen locations highlight a significant impact of the screen centre bias, pulling fixations towards
the centre of the screen and modifying gaze biases generally observed during facial categorisation
tasks. A left horizontal bias for fixations was found to be independent of screen position but interacting
with screen centre bias, drawing fixations to the left hemi-face rather than just to the left of the screen.
Implications for eye tracking studies utilising centrally presented faces are discussed.