The effect of facial expression and gaze direction on memory for unfamiliar faces

Citation

Nakashima SF, Langton S & Yoshikawa S (2012) The effect of facial expression and gaze direction on memory for unfamiliar faces. Cognition and Emotion, 26 (7), pp. 1316-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.619734

Abstract
We report data from an experiment that investigated the influence of gaze direction and facial expression on face memory. Participants were shown a set of unfamiliar faces with either happy or angry facial expressions, which were either gazing straight ahead or had their gaze averted to one side. Memory for faces that were initially shown with angry expressions was found to be poorer when these faces had averted as opposed to direct gaze, whereas memory for individuals shown with happy faces was unaffected by gaze direction. We suggest that memory for another individual's face partly depends on an evaluation of the behavioural intention of that individual.

Keywords
Face memory; Facial expression; Gaze direction

Journal
Cognition and Emotion: Volume 26, Issue 7

People

Dr Stephen Langton

Senior Lecturer, Psychology