Dominance modulates the effects of eye gaze on the perception of threatening facial expressions

The effects of gaze direction on the perception of facial expressions have been getting more and more attention from psychologists, but their implication for facial expression recognition in computer science is neglected. In the present psychological study, we investigated the effects of gaze direction on the perception of facial expressions, and focused on the role of social dominance of facial expressions. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the effects of gaze on evaluations of dominance, pleasure and arousal of neutral, joy, angry and disgust facial expressions, using Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Experiment 3 examined the influence of gaze direction on the efficiency of facial expression perception. The results indicated that (a) gaze direction influenced the dominance of neutral and angry facial expressions, while it did not influence the dominance of happy or disgust facial expressions; and (b) averted gaze facilitated the processing of angry faces. The results of three experiments suggested that for threatening facial expression (such as anger), social dominance might be the mediator in the effect of gaze on perception of facial expressions. The implication for facial expression recognition of computer science was discussed.