Schematic of task. Every trial began with a fixation cross lasting 200 ms, after
which the stimulus, a face looking left or right, was presented for 1600 ms or
until a response was registered. Finally, trials were separated by a 1500-ms
interstimulus interval. At the start of the task one of the three affective
faces (happy, fear, anger) was designated as the relevant affective expression.
During gaze-congruent trials the affective expression on the face did not match
the pre-established target emotion; participants were instructed to indicate
whether the eyes were looking left or right using a two-button response box
(e.g., eyes looking right – press right button). During gaze-incongruent
trials, the affective expression on the face matched the target emotion. On
these trials, participants were instructed to press the button that was opposite
of the displayed the eye gaze (e.g., eyes looking left – press the right
button).