Abstract
Facial expression and gaze direction are important signals for social communication which may also serve as useful cues in memorizing the faces of others. In this research, we investigated whether the effect of gaze direction on recognition memory for faces may be modulated by the facial expression worn by these faces. In three experiments, we found that recognition memory for the faces of individuals with angry expressions was better when these faces maintained a direct rather than an averted gaze, but for faces wearing happy expressions, memory was unaffected by the direction of gaze. We suggest that individuals with angry faces represent a potential threat if their anger is directed toward us and consequently their faces are better encoded into memory than are the faces of individuals whose anger is directed elsewhere. Remembering people with happy faces, in contrast, may be potentially rewarding regardless of their direction of attention.
