Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment

Abstract Previous studies have shown that humans have a left spatial attention bias in cognition and behaviour. However, whether there exists a leftward perception bias of gaze direction has not been investigated. To address this gap, we conducted three behavioural experiments using a forced-choice...

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Autores principales:	Yue Zhang, Qiqi Hu, Xinwei Lai, Zhonghua Hu, Shan Gao
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/437de95e4b5d4b5d81a32aa32f5b84ad
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:437de95e4b5d4b5d81a32aa32f5b84ad2021-12-02T17:51:16ZFear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment10.1038/s41598-021-97039-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/437de95e4b5d4b5d81a32aa32f5b84ad2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97039-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Previous studies have shown that humans have a left spatial attention bias in cognition and behaviour. However, whether there exists a leftward perception bias of gaze direction has not been investigated. To address this gap, we conducted three behavioural experiments using a forced-choice gaze direction judgment task. The point of subjective equality (PSE) was employed to measure whether there was a leftward perception bias of gaze direction, and if there was, whether this bias was modulated by face emotion. The results of experiment 1 showed that the PSE of fearful faces was significantly positive as compared to zero and this effect was not found in angry, happy, and neutral faces, indicating that participants were more likely to judge the gaze direction of fearful faces as directed to their left-side space, namely a leftward perception bias. With the response keys counterbalanced between participants, experiment 2a replicated the findings in experiment 1. To further investigate whether the gaze direction perception variation was contributed by emotional or low-level features of faces, experiment 2b and 3 used inverted faces and inverted eyes, respectively. The results revealed similar leftward perception biases of gaze direction in all types of faces, indicating that gaze direction perception was biased by emotional information in faces rather than low-level facial features. Overall, our study demonstrates that there a fear-specific leftward perception bias in processing gaze direction. These findings shed new light on the cerebral lateralization in humans.Yue ZhangQiqi HuXinwei LaiZhonghua HuShan GaoNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Yue Zhang Qiqi Hu Xinwei Lai Zhonghua Hu Shan Gao Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
description	Abstract Previous studies have shown that humans have a left spatial attention bias in cognition and behaviour. However, whether there exists a leftward perception bias of gaze direction has not been investigated. To address this gap, we conducted three behavioural experiments using a forced-choice gaze direction judgment task. The point of subjective equality (PSE) was employed to measure whether there was a leftward perception bias of gaze direction, and if there was, whether this bias was modulated by face emotion. The results of experiment 1 showed that the PSE of fearful faces was significantly positive as compared to zero and this effect was not found in angry, happy, and neutral faces, indicating that participants were more likely to judge the gaze direction of fearful faces as directed to their left-side space, namely a leftward perception bias. With the response keys counterbalanced between participants, experiment 2a replicated the findings in experiment 1. To further investigate whether the gaze direction perception variation was contributed by emotional or low-level features of faces, experiment 2b and 3 used inverted faces and inverted eyes, respectively. The results revealed similar leftward perception biases of gaze direction in all types of faces, indicating that gaze direction perception was biased by emotional information in faces rather than low-level facial features. Overall, our study demonstrates that there a fear-specific leftward perception bias in processing gaze direction. These findings shed new light on the cerebral lateralization in humans.
format	article
author	Yue Zhang Qiqi Hu Xinwei Lai Zhonghua Hu Shan Gao
author_facet	Yue Zhang Qiqi Hu Xinwei Lai Zhonghua Hu Shan Gao
author_sort	Yue Zhang
title	Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
title_short	Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
title_full	Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
title_fullStr	Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
title_full_unstemmed	Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
title_sort	fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/437de95e4b5d4b5d81a32aa32f5b84ad
work_keys_str_mv	AT yuezhang fearspecificleftwardbiasingazedirectionjudgment AT qiqihu fearspecificleftwardbiasingazedirectionjudgment AT xinweilai fearspecificleftwardbiasingazedirectionjudgment AT zhonghuahu fearspecificleftwardbiasingazedirectionjudgment AT shangao fearspecificleftwardbiasingazedirectionjudgment
_version_	1718379281712676864

Fear-specific leftward bias in gaze direction judgment

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