How We Perceive Others Resembling Us.

Alexandra Hoffmann,Thomas Maran,Pierre Sachse

doi:10.1177/2041669520966623

Alexandra Hoffmann, Thomas Maran + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669520966623

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Journal: i-Perception	Publication Date: Nov 1, 2020
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Liechtenstein, Universität Innsbruck

Abstract

Eye contact is essential for social cognition, acting as an important tool for social communication. While differences in face scanning patterns concerning familiarity have been thoroughly investigated, the impact of facial similarity on gaze behavior has not been examined yet. We addressed this topic by recording subjects’ eye-directed gazing while looking at faces that were individually created systematically varying in terms of similarity to the self-face and familiarity. Subjects’ self-faces were morphed into three other faces including a close friend of the same sex. Afterwards, they rated similarity to their self-face of those morphed face stimuli in a separate rating task. Our results show a general preference for the eyes’ area as well as differences regarding fixation patterns depending on similarity to the self-face. The lower the similarity to the self-face, the more fixations on the eyes’ area. Subjects’ ratings followed a linear line, indicating well-pronounced face perception. Nevertheless, other faces were rated faster than the self-face independent of familiarity, while morphed faces got the slowest ratings. Our results mirror the importance of similarity to the self-face as a factor shaping the way we look at the eyes of others explaining variance apart from familiarity.

Highlights

Eye contact is essential for social cognition, acting as an important tool for social communication
Evidence suggests our self-face to influence face perception and recognition, no study to date investigated how facial resemblance shapes the way we look at other faces
The self-face plays a special role when investigating face perception, as our self-face representation is strongly related to the ability to recognize facial expressions and emotions (Finke et al, 2017; Li & Tottenham, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Eye contact is essential for social cognition, acting as an important tool for social communication. While differences in face scanning patterns concerning familiarity have been thoroughly investigated, the impact of facial similarity on gaze behavior has not been examined yet. We addressed this topic by recording subjects’ eye-directed gazing while looking at faces that were individually created systematically varying in terms of similarity to the self-face and familiarity. The purpose of this article is the investigation of how similarity to the self-face influences our attention toward the eyes of other individuals who are either unfamiliar or familiar to us. Subjects had to decide whether a chimeric face represented their own face or another unfamiliar face These results speak for a special processing of the self-face, eye movement patterns during perception of faces similar to the self-face have never been investigated. Increased event-related potentials were found when comparing the self-face with familiar and unfamiliar faces, pointing toward a specialty of the self-face (Keyes et al, 2010)

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