Attention Bias for Facial Expressions of Emotion: A Meta-Analytic Review.
Facial expressions of emotion are critical to survival and social interaction. Their importance is underscored by evolutionary adaptations that enable their automatic production and recognition. As a result, emotional faces may receive attentional prioritization, even when completely irrelevant to t...
| Publicado en: | Psychological Bulletin Vol. 151; no. 10; pp. 1197 - 1219 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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American Psychological Association
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193009606&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193009606 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00332909 PSB jtl: Psychological Bulletin issn: 00332909 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 151 iid: 10 pid: 34 pub: American Psychological Association artinfo: ui: 193009606 10.1037/bul0000496 ppf: 1197 ppct: 22 formats: tig: atl: Attention Bias for Facial Expressions of Emotion: A Meta-Analytic Review. aug: au: Maxwell, Joshua W. Torrence, Robert D. Ruthruff, Eric affil: Department of Psychology, The University of New Mexico ThinkAlike Laboratories, LLC, Northbrook, Illinois, United States su: Facial expression & emotions (Psychology) Social interaction Emotions Facial expression Attentional bias Automaticity (Learning process) sug: subj: Facial expression & emotions (Psychology) Social interaction Emotions Facial expression Attentional bias Automaticity (Learning process) keyword: attention bias automatic process facial expressions of emotion spatial cueing attention bias automatic process facial expressions of emotion spatial cueing ab: Facial expressions of emotion are critical to survival and social interaction. Their importance is underscored by evolutionary adaptations that enable their automatic production and recognition. As a result, emotional faces may receive attentional prioritization, even when completely irrelevant to the task at hand. Although attentional bias is theoretically plausible, empirical findings have been inconsistent: Some studies have reported bias toward emotional faces, whereas many others have not. To clarify this discrepancy, we conducted a meta-analysis of attentional bias for task-irrelevant emotional expressions, including studies using the additional singleton and spatial cuing paradigms (which includes dot probe paradigms). We found an overall effect between zero and small (Hedges's g = 0.08), based on 160 cases. The only significant moderator was the data set from which the emotional face stimuli were drawn, with the Gur data set (Gur et al., 2002) producing the strongest bias. In a second meta-analysis, we examined studies where the emotional expression was task relevant because both the expression and the target were singletons. Here, the overall attentional bias was small to medium (g = 0.41), based on 25 cases. We conclude that facial expressions of emotion do not bias attention when they are task irrelevant. In the discussion, we highlight some empirical and theoretical challenges to emotion automaticity and offer explanations for why the effect was between zero and small. One potential explanation is studies often utilize static photographs of actors portraying facial expressions of emotion, which are low in salience and ecological validity because they lack context. Public Significance Statement: This study challenges the idea that emotional faces automatically capture attention. Instead, what people notice depends on context and relevance—sometimes guided consciously but often shaped by subconscious expectations, prior experiences, and patterns. Recognizing that emotion perception is context-bound can improve communication, reduce misunderstandings, and guide more realistic research and practice. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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