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The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions

Recognizing facial expressions of emotions is a fundamental ability for adaptation to the social environment. To date, it remains unclear whether the spatial distribution of eye movements predicts accurate recognition or, on the contrary, confusion in the recognition of facial emotions. In the prese...

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Autores principales: Poncet, Fanny, Soussignan, Robert, Jaffiol, Margaux, Gaudelus, Baptiste, Leleu, Arnaud, Demily, Caroline, Franck, Nicolas, Baudouin, Jean-Yves
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7837501/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33497409
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245777
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author Poncet, Fanny
Soussignan, Robert
Jaffiol, Margaux
Gaudelus, Baptiste
Leleu, Arnaud
Demily, Caroline
Franck, Nicolas
Baudouin, Jean-Yves
author_facet Poncet, Fanny
Soussignan, Robert
Jaffiol, Margaux
Gaudelus, Baptiste
Leleu, Arnaud
Demily, Caroline
Franck, Nicolas
Baudouin, Jean-Yves
author_sort Poncet, Fanny
collection PubMed
description Recognizing facial expressions of emotions is a fundamental ability for adaptation to the social environment. To date, it remains unclear whether the spatial distribution of eye movements predicts accurate recognition or, on the contrary, confusion in the recognition of facial emotions. In the present study, we asked participants to recognize facial emotions while monitoring their gaze behavior using eye-tracking technology. In Experiment 1a, 40 participants (20 women) performed a classic facial emotion recognition task with a 5-choice procedure (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness). In Experiment 1b, a second group of 40 participants (20 women) was exposed to the same materials and procedure except that they were instructed to say whether (i.e., Yes/No response) the face expressed a specific emotion (e.g., anger), with the five emotion categories tested in distinct blocks. In Experiment 2, two groups of 32 participants performed the same task as in Experiment 1a while exposed to partial facial expressions composed of actions units (AUs) present or absent in some parts of the face (top, middle, or bottom). The coding of the AUs produced by the models showed complex facial configurations for most emotional expressions, with several AUs in common. Eye-tracking data indicated that relevant facial actions were actively gazed at by the decoders during both accurate recognition and errors. False recognition was mainly associated with the additional visual exploration of less relevant facial actions in regions containing ambiguous AUs or AUs relevant to other emotional expressions. Finally, the recognition of facial emotions from partial expressions showed that no single facial actions were necessary to effectively communicate an emotional state. In contrast, the recognition of facial emotions relied on the integration of a complex set of facial cues.
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spelling pubmed-78375012021-02-02 The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions Poncet, Fanny Soussignan, Robert Jaffiol, Margaux Gaudelus, Baptiste Leleu, Arnaud Demily, Caroline Franck, Nicolas Baudouin, Jean-Yves PLoS One Research Article Recognizing facial expressions of emotions is a fundamental ability for adaptation to the social environment. To date, it remains unclear whether the spatial distribution of eye movements predicts accurate recognition or, on the contrary, confusion in the recognition of facial emotions. In the present study, we asked participants to recognize facial emotions while monitoring their gaze behavior using eye-tracking technology. In Experiment 1a, 40 participants (20 women) performed a classic facial emotion recognition task with a 5-choice procedure (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness). In Experiment 1b, a second group of 40 participants (20 women) was exposed to the same materials and procedure except that they were instructed to say whether (i.e., Yes/No response) the face expressed a specific emotion (e.g., anger), with the five emotion categories tested in distinct blocks. In Experiment 2, two groups of 32 participants performed the same task as in Experiment 1a while exposed to partial facial expressions composed of actions units (AUs) present or absent in some parts of the face (top, middle, or bottom). The coding of the AUs produced by the models showed complex facial configurations for most emotional expressions, with several AUs in common. Eye-tracking data indicated that relevant facial actions were actively gazed at by the decoders during both accurate recognition and errors. False recognition was mainly associated with the additional visual exploration of less relevant facial actions in regions containing ambiguous AUs or AUs relevant to other emotional expressions. Finally, the recognition of facial emotions from partial expressions showed that no single facial actions were necessary to effectively communicate an emotional state. In contrast, the recognition of facial emotions relied on the integration of a complex set of facial cues. Public Library of Science 2021-01-26 /pmc/articles/PMC7837501/ /pubmed/33497409 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245777 Text en © 2021 Poncet et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Poncet, Fanny
Soussignan, Robert
Jaffiol, Margaux
Gaudelus, Baptiste
Leleu, Arnaud
Demily, Caroline
Franck, Nicolas
Baudouin, Jean-Yves
The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title_full The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title_fullStr The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title_full_unstemmed The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title_short The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
title_sort spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7837501/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33497409
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245777
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