# Expressions of emotions in minimal face perception stimuli

## TL;DR

This study explores how people perceive facial expressions using minimal face stimuli, finding that eyes and mouths play different roles in processing emotions.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach to understanding the differential roles of facial features in emotion perception using minimal stimuli.

## Key findings

- Eye fixations are primarily influenced by the eyes, likely due to evolutionary importance in gaze contact.
- The mouth becomes more significant in emotion perception once facial expressions are observed.
- Facial configuration and task instructions affect eye movement patterns during emotion processing.

## Abstract

Face perception is considered to be a canonical example of configurational visual processing. However, not all facial information is equally important when reading facial expressions. The eyes and mouth seem to be crucial, but they seem to have different roles and significance. By varying the shape of the mouth, eyes, and other factors, we conducted two experiments: first, we examined eye movements depending on different facial configurations and different types of instructions (neutral and emotionally valenced); second, we used the same types of stimuli in a rating task. Our results indicate that the eyes provide a primary impact (when eye fixations are measured), which can be explained by the evolutionary need to establish gaze contact, but once facial expressions are observed, the mouth seems to be more significant.