ИСТИНА

The aim of this study was to investigate specificity of eye movement’s parameters during mixed facial emotion recognition task. We analyzed the fixation numbers in lower (L) and upper (U) part of emotional face stimuli during emotion recognition task performance. We used morphed emotional faces. Source stimuli were images of basic emotions and neutral face expression. We mixed every emotion sample with each other in different proportions (one emotion in the couple was present in 50%, 66%, 75%, 80%, 83%), thereafter the resulting image was mixed with neutral image in different ratio (100% - morphing without neutral sample, 50%, 33%, 25%, 20%, 16%). Participants were instructed to make the most accurate judgments; they were no limited in time for recognition task and could choose more the one answer. We used ANOVA and Student’s t-test. Recognition and perception of mixed facial emotions has correlates in parameters of eye movements. Correct answers accompanied by greater fixation numbers than wrong answers (U: 9.48±0.12 vs 5.68±0.10, t=-24.51, df=10741, p<0.001; L: 6.01±0.06 vs 3.83±0.45, t=-28.99, df=10401, p<0.001). The larger fixation number was observed in U in comparison with L (6.01±0.74 vs 4.9±0.04, t=-12.91, df=16024, p<0.001). Looking at unnatural mixed emotions faces (e.g., happy-fear) characterized by greater fixation numbers than looking at more natural mixed emotional faces (e.g., happy-surprise) (U: 8.86±0.17 vs 7.14±0.09, t=-8.87, df=4844, p<0.001; L: 5.52±0.09 vs 4.7±0.04, t=-8.44, df=4693, p<0.001). Thus, the spatial distribution of fixations relates with facial emotion recognition specificity in mixed facial emotion recognition task.