Gaze and attractiveness of face - cognitive, socio-psychological approach

Research Project

Project/Area Number	14510164
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	教育・社会系心理学
Research Institution	Bunkyo Gakuin University
Principal Investigator	SHIMOJO Eiko Bunkyo Gakuin University, Human Studies, Professor, 人間学部, 教授 (30231137)
Project Period (FY)	2002 – 2005
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2005)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,600,000) Fiscal Year 2005: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000) Fiscal Year 2004: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000) Fiscal Year 2003: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000) Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Keywords	preference decision / gaze / emotion / orienting / cognitive social psychology / 顔知覚 / 魅力 / 顔の表情認知 / 感情 / 再認 / ムード
Research Abstract	Emotions operate along the dimension of approach and aversion, and it is reasonable to assume that orienting behavior is intrinsically linked to emotionally involved processes such as preference decisions. Here we describe a gaze "cascade effect", present when human observers were shown pairs of human faces and instructed to decide which face was more attractive. Their gaze was initially distributed evenly between the two stimuli, but then gradually shifted towards the face that was to be eventually chosen. Pattern of gaze bias was different and significantly weaker in the shape discrimination task on the same face pairs. In a second series of experiments, manipulation of gaze duration, but not exposure duration alone, biased observers' decisions of preference significantly. We thus conclude that gaze is actively involved in preference formation. The gaze cascade effect was present when participants compared unfamiliar shapes for attractiveness, suggesting that orienting and preference for objects in general are intrinsically linked in a positive feedback loop leading to the conscious choice. Additional experiments manipulated : (a)difficulty of task, (b)familiarity of faces (i.e. repeat the same experiment twice), (c)spatial range of simultaneous visibility with a gaze, (d)number of alternative faces in choice (from 2 to 4), and (e)stimuli (commercial products such as jewelry or watches). We observed a qualytatively similar gaze cascade effect in all of these cases. Thus, the results were all together consistent with our positive feedback model in which matching with "attractiveness template" guides gaze, while the gaze in turn facilitates processing, familiarity, and thus attractiveness of the selected object. As such, the known "mere exposure effect" is consistent with, but only a part of, this inclusive framework.