Mathews Andrew, Fox Elaine, Yiend Jenny, Calder Andy
MRC Cognition & Brian Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Vis cogn. 2003 Oct;10(7):823-835. doi: 10.1080/13506280344000095.
We investigated whether a fearful expression enhances the effect of another's gaze in directing the attention of an observer. Participants viewed photographs of faces whose gaze was directed ahead, to the left or to the right. Target letters then appeared unpredictably to the left or right. As expected, targets in the location indicated by gaze were detected more rapidly. In nonanxious volunteers the effects of fearful gaze did not differ from neutral gaze, but fearful expression had a more powerful influence in a selected high anxious group. Attention is thus more likely to be guided by the direction of fearful than neutral gaze, but only in anxiety-prone individuals.
我们研究了恐惧表情是否会增强他人目光在引导观察者注意力方面的作用。参与者观看面部照片，照片中的目光分别直视前方、看向左侧或右侧。然后，目标字母会随机出现在左侧或右侧。正如预期的那样，在目光所指位置出现的目标被检测到的速度更快。在非焦虑志愿者中，恐惧目光的效果与中性目光没有差异，但恐惧表情在选定的高焦虑组中具有更强的影响力。因此，与中性目光相比，恐惧目光更有可能引导注意力，但这仅发生在易焦虑的个体中。
