Abstract

FERREIRA, Ana B.; CARDOSO, Cátia E.; SAMOES, Joana I.  and  LEITE, Ângela. Emotion recognition in faces and eye behavior in social anxiety: A study on eye-tracking. PsychTech [online]. 2020, vol.4, n.1, pp.10-31.  Epub Sep 29, 2021. ISSN 2184-1004.  https://doi.org/10.26580/pthj.art26-2020.

Eye-tracking is a system that can be used when studying the emotional recognition of subjects diagnosed with social anxiety. This study aimed to review the literature about recognizing emotions in faces using eye-tracking technology and eye behavior in individulas diagnosed with social anxiety. The question was: Do individuals with high anxiety levels reveal different attentional patterns than those with low or no social anxiety. For this purpose, a systematic review was carried out, resulting in 20 articles. Concerning the main results, it was found that ocular patterns are concentrated mainly in the ocular region when participants are in the presence of emotions considered harmful. Positive emotions were observed, eye patterns directed towards the mouth region. Concerning the attentional processes in social anxiety the literature suggests an effect of initial hypervigilance and later avoidance, especially in the case of negative facial expressions such as anger. However, the present review showed disagreement between the researchers. In conclusion, eye-tracking systems are advantageous when applied in subclinical and clinical populations, such as social anxiety.

Keywords : social anxiety; emotional facial expression; Eye-tracking; emotion recognition.

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