Abstract
This study investigated the time course of interaction between gaze direction and facial expression on spatial visual attention. We hypothesized that the gaze cueing effect would be most prominent when presented with fearful emotion at initial processing. We modified the Posner (1980) cueing paradigm. Specifically, we included dynamic gaze shifts and expression changes (i.e., anger, fearful, happy, or neutral). Participants were demanded to press a key that was consistent with the direction of the target. As a result, the interaction between gaze-cueing effect and fearful expression was observed at the initial processing stage. On the other hand, gaze-cueing effect and interaction between gaze-shift and expression tended to decrease at later stages. We argue that the gaze direction and expression interact at initial processing.
