Eye fixation patterns for categorizing static and dynamic facial expressions.

Facial expressions of emotion are dynamic in nature, but most studies on the visual strategies underlying the recognition of facial emotions have used static stimuli. The present study directly compared the visual strategies underlying the recognition of static and dynamic facial expressions using eye tracking and the Bubbles technique. The results revealed different eye fixation patterns with the 2 kinds of stimuli, with fewer fixations on the eye and mouth area during the recognition of dynamic than static expressions. However, these differences in eye fixations were not accompanied by any systematic differences in the facial information that was actually processed to recognize the expressions. (PsycINFO Database Record