Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e59471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059471. Epub 2013 Apr 3.
Gaze following is a socio-cognitive process that provides adaptive information about potential threats and opportunities in the individual's environment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential interaction between emotional context and facial dominance in gaze following. We used the gaze cue task to induce attention to or away from the location of a target stimulus. In the experiment, the gaze cue either belonged to a (dominant looking) male face or a (non-dominant looking) female face. Critically, prior to the task, individuals were primed with pictures of threat or no threat to induce either a dangerous or safe environment. Findings revealed that the primed emotional context critically influenced the gaze cuing effect. While a gaze cue of the dominant male face influenced performance in both the threat and no-threat conditions, the gaze cue of the non-dominant female face only influenced performance in the no-threat condition. This research suggests an implicit, context-dependent follower bias, which carries implications for research on visual attention, social cognition, and leadership.
目光追踪是一种社会认知过程，提供了个体环境中潜在威胁和机会的适应性信息。本研究旨在探讨情绪背景与面部优势在目光追踪中的潜在相互作用。我们使用目光线索任务来引导注意力集中或远离目标刺激的位置。在实验中，目光线索要么属于（优势长相）男性面孔，要么属于（非优势长相）女性面孔。关键的是，在任务之前，个体被呈现威胁或无威胁的图片，以诱导危险或安全的环境。研究结果表明，情绪背景的启动对目光提示效应有重要影响。虽然主导男性面孔的目光线索会影响威胁和无威胁两种情况下的表现，但非主导女性面孔的目光线索仅会影响无威胁情况下的表现。这项研究表明了一种内隐的、依赖情境的跟随者偏见，这对视觉注意力、社会认知和领导力的研究具有重要意义。
