ИСТИНА

Emotions evolved to provide information about intentions of other people, so perceiving their messages efficiently confers an advantage for interpersonal interactions. In our study we explored the efficiency of facial expression perception using visual search paradigm, namely a search asymmetry effect. Forty participants (25 F, 15 M, age range 19-27) were tested. Ten real-face photographs (5 female and 5 male faces) were used bearing three basic expressions: neutral, happy and sad. The stimulus displays were constructed consisting of an emotional target face (happy or sad) among 11 neutral faces or vice-versa. The displays were presented until the participants responded. They were asked to search for a target face. During the execution participant’s eye movements were recorded. The results showed the effect of search asymmetries for both expressions. Its strength was more pronounced in the situation of searching for happy faces among neutral faces compared to searching for sad faces. Gender differences in effect’s strength were revealed: it was more pronounced for men regardless of the distinctive facial expression. The analysis of eye movements revealed longer average fixation durations for emotional faces surrounded by neutrals ones than vice versa. Our data showed the specificity of the search asymmetries on socially significant objects. The study was funded by RFBR grant, project №18-013-01087