Localization of Fixations of the Perception Subject's Gaze on the Elements of the External Appearance When Constructing the Age of an Unfamiliar Person: The Priority of the Face

The aim of the study was to identify the localization of fixation of the subject's gaze on the elements of appearance when constructing the age of an unfamiliar person in a situation of presenting portrait (zones "head, hair", "forehead", "left eye", "right eye", "bridge of the nose", "nose", "right cheek", "left cheek", "lips", "chin", "neck", "shoulders", "chest") and full-length images (including additionally the zones "pelvis", "legs"). Methods: 1) the method of oculography using a software and hardware complex, including the Gazepoint GP3 Eye Tracker and the standard Gazepoint Analysis UX Edition (v.6.8.0)x64 software, as well as specially developed software; 2) the procedure of "Photo-visual presentation of appearance" by T.A. Vorontsova (setNo. 1). The study sample included 20 women and 14 men aged 19 to 59 years (M=36.82) as objects of perception; 334 women and 74 men aged 18 to 71 years (M=24.07) as subjects of perception.Results: 1) the features of age construction in the perception of portrait photography are described: the subject of perception within the main scope of viewing portrait photography is fixed on the eye area (1st place), forehead (2nd place), nose (3rd place) (we named the "triangle of interest"); the upper part of the face (forehead, eye area), starting from the second fixation; after the 11th fixation, the gaze of the subject of perception is more focused (compared with previous fixations) on the zones of the lower part of the face, as well as the zones of the neck, shoulders, chest; 2) the features of age construction in the perception of growth photography are revealed: the gaze of the subjects of perception moves to the elements of the face from the second fixation; a third of all fixations takes the proportion of the upper part of the face (forehead and eye area); the maximum concentration of the views of the subjects of perception on the forehead and eye areas was found at the third and fourth fixation; the proportion of the "triangle of interest" is significantly higher than the proportion of the integral "body" area (shoulders, chest, pelvis, legs); the least interest of the subjects of perception in the features of the physique was found at the third fixation, after which attention to them increases to a maximum at the twelfth fixation. The paper concludes that the priority of the face of the object of perception over the body; the priority of the upper part of the face over the lower, the priority of the left half of the face over the right when solving the perceptual task of determining the age of an unfamiliar person. The results obtained are discussed in the context of domestic approaches to communication, appearance, and cognitive processes.

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