Hoffmann Alexandra, Maran Thomas, Sachse Pierre
Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Department of Entrepreneurship, University of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Iperception. 2020 Nov 25;11(6):2041669520966623. doi: 10.1177/2041669520966623. eCollection 2020 Nov-Dec.
Eye contact is essential for social cognition, acting as an important tool for social communication. While differences in face scanning patterns concerning familiarity have been thoroughly investigated, the impact of facial similarity on gaze behavior has not been examined yet. We addressed this topic by recording subjects' eye-directed gazing while looking at faces that were individually created systematically varying in terms of similarity to the self-face and familiarity. Subjects' self-faces were morphed into three other faces including a close friend of the same sex. Afterwards, they rated similarity to their self-face of those morphed face stimuli in a separate rating task. Our results show a general preference for the eyes' area as well as differences regarding fixation patterns depending on similarity to the self-face. The lower the similarity to the self-face, the more fixations on the eyes' area. Subjects' ratings followed a linear line, indicating well-pronounced face perception. Nevertheless, other faces were rated faster than the self-face independent of familiarity, while morphed faces got the slowest ratings. Our results mirror the importance of similarity to the self-face as a factor shaping the way we look at the eyes of others explaining variance apart from familiarity.
眼神交流对于社会认知至关重要，是社会交流的重要工具。虽然关于熟悉度的面部扫描模式差异已得到充分研究，但面部相似度对注视行为的影响尚未得到检验。我们通过记录受试者在观看根据与自身面部的相似度和熟悉度系统变化而单独创建的面部时的眼睛注视方向来探讨这一主题。受试者的自身面部被变形为其他三张脸，包括一位同性密友的脸。之后，他们在单独的评分任务中对这些变形面部刺激与自身面部的相似度进行评分。我们的结果显示，总体上对眼睛区域存在偏好，并且根据与自身面部的相似度，注视模式也存在差异。与自身面部的相似度越低，对眼睛区域的注视就越多。受试者的评分呈线性关系，表明面部感知明显。然而，无论熟悉度如何，其他面孔的评分都比自身面孔快，而变形面孔的评分最慢。我们的结果反映出与自身面部的相似度作为塑造我们观察他人眼睛方式的一个因素的重要性，它除了熟悉度之外还能解释差异。
