Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
Cortex. 2021 Oct;143:205-222. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.024. Epub 2021 Aug 8.
Looking at someone's eyes is thought to be important for affective theory of mind (aTOM), our ability to infer their emotional state. However, it is unknown whether an individual's gaze direction influences our aTOM judgements and what the time course of this influence might be. We presented participants with sentences describing individuals in positive, negative or neutral scenarios, followed by direct or averted gaze neutral face pictures of those individuals. Participants made aTOM judgements about each person's mental state, including their affective valence and arousal, and we investigated whether the face gaze direction impacted those judgements. Participants rated that gazers were feeling more positive when they displayed direct gaze as opposed to averted gaze, and that they were feeling more aroused during negative contexts when gaze was averted as opposed to direct. Event-related potentials associated with face perception and affective processing were examined using mass-univariate analyses to track the time-course of this eye-gaze and affective processing interaction at a neural level. Both positive and negative trials were differentiated from neutral trials at many stages of processing. This included the early N200 and EPN components, believed to reflect automatic emotion areas activation and attentional selection respectively. This also included the later P300 and LPP components, thought to reflect elaborative cognitive appraisal of emotional content. Critically, sentence valence and gaze direction interacted over these later components, which may reflect the incorporation of eye-gaze in the cognitive evaluation of another's emotional state. The results suggest that gaze perception directly impacts aTOM processes, and that altered eye-gaze processing in clinical populations may contribute to associated aTOM impairments.
注视他人的眼睛被认为对情感理论的心智（aTOM）很重要，我们可以通过这种能力推断他人的情绪状态。然而，目前尚不清楚个体的注视方向是否会影响我们的 aTOM 判断，以及这种影响的时间进程可能是什么。我们向参与者呈现了描述个体处于积极、消极或中性情境的句子，然后是那些个体的直接或回避注视中性面孔的图片。参与者对每个人的心理状态做出 aTOM 判断，包括他们的情感效价和唤醒度，我们调查了面孔注视方向是否会影响这些判断。参与者认为，当注视者表现出直接注视时，他们感觉更积极，而当注视回避时，他们在负面情境中感觉更兴奋。使用大规模单变量分析检查了与面孔感知和情感处理相关的事件相关电位，以追踪这种眼注视和情感处理相互作用在神经水平上的时间进程。积极和消极的试验与中性试验在许多处理阶段都有所区分。这包括早期的 N200 和 EPN 成分，被认为分别反映了自动情绪区域的激活和注意力选择。这还包括后期的 P300 和 LPP 成分，被认为反映了对情绪内容的精细认知评价。关键的是，句子的效价和注视方向在这些后期成分上相互作用，这可能反映了在对他人情绪状态的认知评价中纳入了眼注视。研究结果表明，注视感知直接影响 aTOM 过程，而临床人群中注视处理的改变可能会导致相关的 aTOM 障碍。
