A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

Samantha E. A. Gregory; Stephen R. H. Langton; Sakiko Yoshikawa; Margaret C. Jackson

doi:10.31234/osf.io/6ty8q

A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

Samantha E. A. Gregory^* (Corresponding Author), Stephen R. H. Langton, Sakiko Yoshikawa, Margaret C. Jackson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Previous long-term memory (LTM) research found that angry faces were more poorly recognised when encoded with averted vs. direct gaze, while memory for happy faces was unaffected by gaze. Contrastingly, working memory (WM) accuracy for angry faces was unaffected by gaze, but WM was enhanced for happy faces with averted vs. direct gaze. Because the LTM study was conducted in an Eastern culture (Japan) with Japanese faces, while the WM study was conducted in a Western culture (UK) with Caucasian faces, here we investigated WM further to examine whether gaze effects diverge due to cultural variation between the faces and participants. When Western participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 1), the happy-averted gaze advantage in WM was replicated. In contrast, Japanese participants viewing Caucasian faces (Experiment 2a) showed poorer WM for angry faces with averted vs. direct gaze, and no influence of gaze on WM for happy faces. When Japanese participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 2b), gaze did not modulate WM. Therefore, the way in which expression and gaze interact to influence face WM does not appear to rely on the specific memory system engaged, but instead may be attributed to cultural differences in display rules between Eastern and Western cultures.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1561-1572
Number of pages	12
Journal	Cognition & Emotion
Volume	34
Issue number	8
Early online date	23 Jun 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6ty8q https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2020.1782353
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2020

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
Thanks go to Yoshiyuki Ueda, Minako Osami, and Kazusa Minemoto for translating the study materials and helping with data collection in Japan.
Funding
The research conducted in Japan was supported by summer programme funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the British Council.

Keywords

Emotion
faces
gaze
working memory
cross-cultural
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Access to Document

10.31234/osf.io/6ty8qLicence: CC BY
10.1080/02699931.2020.1782353Licence: Unspecified

Gregory_et_al_CE_ACrossCulturalInvestigation_AAM
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cognition and Emotion on 23 Jun 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02699931.2020.1782353
Accepted author manuscript, 386 KBLicence: Unspecified

https://psyarxiv.com/6ty8q/Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{f26247c932f04a5387b6aff7e1dea0a2,

title = "A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces",

abstract = "Previous long-term memory (LTM) research found that angry faces were more poorly recognised when encoded with averted vs. direct gaze, while memory for happy faces was unaffected by gaze. Contrastingly, working memory (WM) accuracy for angry faces was unaffected by gaze, but WM was enhanced for happy faces with averted vs. direct gaze. Because the LTM study was conducted in an Eastern culture (Japan) with Japanese faces, while the WM study was conducted in a Western culture (UK) with Caucasian faces, here we investigated WM further to examine whether gaze effects diverge due to cultural variation between the faces and participants. When Western participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 1), the happy-averted gaze advantage in WM was replicated. In contrast, Japanese participants viewing Caucasian faces (Experiment 2a) showed poorer WM for angry faces with averted vs. direct gaze, and no influence of gaze on WM for happy faces. When Japanese participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 2b), gaze did not modulate WM. Therefore, the way in which expression and gaze interact to influence face WM does not appear to rely on the specific memory system engaged, but instead may be attributed to cultural differences in display rules between Eastern and Western cultures.",

keywords = "Emotion, faces, gaze, working memory, cross-cultural, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous), Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology",

author = "Gregory, {Samantha E. A.} and Langton, {Stephen R. H.} and Sakiko Yoshikawa and Jackson, {Margaret C.}",

note = "Acknowledgements Thanks go to Yoshiyuki Ueda, Minako Osami, and Kazusa Minemoto for translating the study materials and helping with data collection in Japan. Funding The research conducted in Japan was supported by summer programme funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the British Council.",

year = "2020",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.31234/osf.io/6ty8q",

language = "English",

volume = "34",

pages = "1561--1572",

journal = "Cognition & Emotion",

issn = "0269-9931",

publisher = "Psychology Press Taylor & Francis Group",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

AU - Gregory, Samantha E. A.

AU - Langton, Stephen R. H.

AU - Yoshikawa, Sakiko

AU - Jackson, Margaret C.

N1 - Acknowledgements Thanks go to Yoshiyuki Ueda, Minako Osami, and Kazusa Minemoto for translating the study materials and helping with data collection in Japan. Funding The research conducted in Japan was supported by summer programme funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the British Council.

PY - 2020/12/1

Y1 - 2020/12/1

N2 - Previous long-term memory (LTM) research found that angry faces were more poorly recognised when encoded with averted vs. direct gaze, while memory for happy faces was unaffected by gaze. Contrastingly, working memory (WM) accuracy for angry faces was unaffected by gaze, but WM was enhanced for happy faces with averted vs. direct gaze. Because the LTM study was conducted in an Eastern culture (Japan) with Japanese faces, while the WM study was conducted in a Western culture (UK) with Caucasian faces, here we investigated WM further to examine whether gaze effects diverge due to cultural variation between the faces and participants. When Western participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 1), the happy-averted gaze advantage in WM was replicated. In contrast, Japanese participants viewing Caucasian faces (Experiment 2a) showed poorer WM for angry faces with averted vs. direct gaze, and no influence of gaze on WM for happy faces. When Japanese participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 2b), gaze did not modulate WM. Therefore, the way in which expression and gaze interact to influence face WM does not appear to rely on the specific memory system engaged, but instead may be attributed to cultural differences in display rules between Eastern and Western cultures.

AB - Previous long-term memory (LTM) research found that angry faces were more poorly recognised when encoded with averted vs. direct gaze, while memory for happy faces was unaffected by gaze. Contrastingly, working memory (WM) accuracy for angry faces was unaffected by gaze, but WM was enhanced for happy faces with averted vs. direct gaze. Because the LTM study was conducted in an Eastern culture (Japan) with Japanese faces, while the WM study was conducted in a Western culture (UK) with Caucasian faces, here we investigated WM further to examine whether gaze effects diverge due to cultural variation between the faces and participants. When Western participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 1), the happy-averted gaze advantage in WM was replicated. In contrast, Japanese participants viewing Caucasian faces (Experiment 2a) showed poorer WM for angry faces with averted vs. direct gaze, and no influence of gaze on WM for happy faces. When Japanese participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 2b), gaze did not modulate WM. Therefore, the way in which expression and gaze interact to influence face WM does not appear to rely on the specific memory system engaged, but instead may be attributed to cultural differences in display rules between Eastern and Western cultures.

KW - Emotion

KW - faces

KW - gaze

KW - working memory

KW - cross-cultural

KW - Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

KW - Developmental and Educational Psychology

KW - Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087373893&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.31234/osf.io/6ty8q

DO - 10.31234/osf.io/6ty8q

M3 - Article

C2 - 32576091

SN - 0269-9931

VL - 34

SP - 1561

EP - 1572

JO - Cognition & Emotion

JF - Cognition & Emotion

IS - 8

ER -

A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Margaret C Jackson

Cite this

A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Profiles

Margaret C Jackson

Cite this