MEMORY FOR EYE GAZE: ACCURACY, BIAS, AND THE ROLE OF FACIAL EMOTION

Memory for behavior is functionally important, yet memory for many details of behavior decays quickly. The authors argue that the eye gaze, unlike some other details, is critical to understanding behavior and thus people should remember eye-gaze direction. The authors thus present the first data on eye-gaze memory. They also expected a self-enhancement memory bias favoring attributions to direct eye-gaze. Consistent with self-enhancement, the authors expected the direct-gaze memory advantage to be diminished for angry faces. Participants viewed faces that varied on eye gaze (direct, averted) and expression (angry, happy, neutral). Memory was tested via a forced-choice recognition test containing two versions of each face (varying in only direct-or averted gaze). Participants accurately remembered eye-gaze direction, although accuracy was higher for direct gaze. As expected, the direct-gaze memory advantage was diminished for angry faces. The authors discuss these results in the context of integrating research on social vision with extant models of person memory.