Science of Emotion and Sensibility (감성과학)

Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility (한국감성과학회)
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Difference in visual attention during the assessment of facial attractiveness and trustworthiness

얼굴 매력도와 신뢰성 평가에서 시각적 주의의 차이

  • Received : 2010.08.10
  • Accepted : 2010.09.10
  • Published : 2010.09.30
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Abstract

This study was designed to examine the difference in visual attention between the evaluations of facial attractiveness and facial trustworthiness, both of which may be the two most fundamental social evaluation for forming first impressions under various types of social interactions. In study 1, participants were asked to evaluate the attractiveness and trustworthiness of 40 new faces while their gaze directions being recorded using an eye-tracker. The analysis revealed that participants spent significantly longer gaze fixation time while examining certain facial features such as eyes and nose during the evaluation of facial trustworthiness, as compared to facial attractiveness. In study 2, participants performed the same face evaluation tasks, except that a word was briefly displayed on a certain facial feature in each face trial, which were then followed by unexpected recall tests of the previously viewed words. The analysis demonstrated that the recognition rate of the words that had been presented on the nose was significantly higher for the task of facial trustworthiness vs. facial attractiveness evaluation. These findings suggest that the evaluation of facial trustworthiness may be distinguished by that of facial attractiveness in terms of the allocation of attentional resources.

본 연구는 사회적 상호작용에서 필수적인 얼굴 인상형성 과정 중 가장 대표적이라고 할 수 있는 매력도와 신뢰성을 평가할 때 시각적 주의에서의 차이가 나타나는지를 관찰하기 위해 고안되었다. 실험 1에서는 참가자들이 얼굴 신뢰성과 매력도를 평가하는 동안 안구추적기(eye-tracker)를 사용하여 사람들의 시선움직임을 측정하고, 이 후 히트맵(heatmap) 분석을 통해 평가과제 간 차이를 관찰하였다. 그 결과, 사람들은 매력도를 평가할 때와 비교하여 신뢰성을 평가할 때, 얼굴의 주요요소라 할 수 있는 눈과 코 부위에서 더 많은 시선응시가 일어나는 것을 관찰하였다. 또한, 실험 2에서는 참가자들이 실험 1과 동일한 얼굴 평가과제를 수행하는 동안 얼굴의 각 요소에 단어를 짧게 제시하였다. 실험종료 후 실시된 회상검사 결과, 신뢰성 평가과제 시 코부위에 제시되었던 단어의 회상률이 매력도 평가과제 시와 비교하여 유의미하게 높은 것을 확인하였다. 본 연구를 통해 얼굴 신뢰성 판단은 시각적인 주의적 자원(attentional resources)의 할당과 관련된 측면에서 얼굴 매력도와는 구분되는 정보처리과정을 거치는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

Keywords

References

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