The Influence of Second-Order Facial Features on Gaze-Following Behaviour and Attentional Biases

In social scenarios, attention is drawn to another person’s gaze, compelling individuals to follow it. This tendency, known as joint attention, can be inhibited with delayed Reaction Times (RTs). In a previous study we showed that Second-Order Facial features (SOFs, e.g. makeup for females, beard for males) modulate Gender Science Stereotype (i.e. women are seen less competent than men in scientific fields). We present an experiment aimed at testing the automatic nature of stereotypical attributions modulated by SOFs, focusing on attentional biases in a gaze-following behaviour (GFB) paradigm. Participants performed left or right saccades when a fixation dot changed colour, ignoring a centrally presented face with congruent or incongruent gaze direction. Distracting faces were 32 male and female faces modified by hair colour/length, makeup/beard. Results confirmed GFB, with more errors and slower RTs in incongruent trials. A stronger GFB was present on faces with pronounced SOFs, regardless of gender, suggesting perceptual saliency may override gender stereotypes in implicit tasks. We are currently running a dot-probe test to further explore the role of SOFs in gender stereotypes.