%0 Journal Article
%T Culture, gaze and the neural processing of fear expressions
%J Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
%D 2010
%A Adams, Reginald B.
%A Franklin, Robert G.
%A Rule, Nicholas O.
%A Freeman, J. B.
%A Kveraga, Kestutis
%A Hadjikhani, Nouchine
%A Yoshikawa, Sakiko
%A Ambady, Nalini
%V 5
%N 2-3
%P 340-348
%X The direction of others' eye gaze has important influences on how we perceive their emotional expressions. Here, we examined differences in neural activation to direct- versus averted-gaze fear faces as a function of culture of the participant (Japanese versus US Caucasian), culture of the stimulus face (Japanese versus US Caucasian), and the relation between the two. We employed a previously validated paradigm to examine differences in neural activation in response to rapidly presented direct- versus averted-fear expressions, finding clear evidence for a culturally determined role of gaze in the processing of fear. Greater neural responsivity was apparent to averted- versus direct-gaze fear in several regions related to face and emotion processing, including bilateral amygdalae, when posed on same-culture faces, whereas greater response to direct- versus averted-gaze fear was apparent in these same regions when posed on other-culture faces. We also found preliminary evidence for intercultural variation including differential responses across participants to Japanese versus US Caucasian stimuli, and to a lesser degree differences in how Japanese and US Caucasian participants responded to these stimuli. These findings reveal a meaningful role of culture in the processing of eye gaze and emotion, and highlight their interactive influences in neural processing.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Oxford University Press
%@ 1749-5016
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsp047