Аннотация:Recognition of facial expressions of normal and composite photo portraits was studied. Two images of the same person – one posing neutrality and the other displaying one of basic emotional expressions (anger, fear, disgust, happiness, or sadness) were combined to construct a composite photo. Eye region from one photo was pasted in the same place of the other photo. Three sets of images were used in experiment: “A” (normal photos), “B” (composite photos with neutral eyes on the emotional face), and “C” (composite photos with emotional eyes on the neutral face).
The results show no significant differences between images “A” and “B” in expression recognition and in proportion of fixations on the various internal parts of the faces, except fear expression. A fearful face with neutral eyes was not perceived as fearful; a rate of fixations on the eyes region increased. Facial expressions on images “C” were described as “concentration”, “contempt”, “distrust”, rarely as “neutral expression”, and never as the same basic emotions which were posed on the original photo portraits. Dwell time and fixation rate on eyes area increased, on the other internal parts of the face significantly decreased for all composite photos with emotional eyes on the neutral face.