Cite as:
Ueda S, Koyama T, 2010, "Influence of eye-makeup on the perception of gaze direction" Perception 39 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 126

Influence of eye-makeup on the perception of gaze direction

S Ueda, T Koyama

There is evidence that makeup has a beautifying effect on facial attractiveness (Cash et al, 1989 Journal of Social Psychology 129 349-356; Guéguen, 2008 North American Journal of Psychology 10 221-228; Nash et al, 2006 Journal of Applied Social Psychology 36 493-504). Does wearing eye-makeup influence the perception of gaze direction? Eye-makeup might make gaze more recognizable, by emphasizing the contrast of the eyes. Or makeup might make gaze less recognizable, by transforming eyes to unnatural shapes. In an experiment, stimuli were created in three makeup conditions: no-eyeliner, thin-eyeliner, and thick-eyeliner. Each trial began with a visual cue for 500 ms followed by the first face for 150 ms. Then a mask was displayed for 500 ms, and then the second face appeared. It remained on the screen until the observer made a recognition response of whether the two faces’ gaze direction were the same or different. Half of the trials were pairs of the same gaze direction, and the other half were different gaze direction. The results show that thick-eyeliner made it easier to recognize gaze direction, in the same gaze direction pairs, and thick-eyeliner made it more difficult to recognize changes of gaze direction, in different gaze direction pairs.

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