Seductive eyes: attractiveness and direct gaze increase desire for associated objects
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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
Published on: November 30, 2018
Madelijn Strick1, Rob W Holland, Ad van Knippenberg
1Department of Social Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. m.strick@bsi.ru.nl
Abstract:
Recent research in neuroscience shows that observing attractive faces with direct gaze is more rewarding than observing attractive faces with averted gaze. On the basis of this research, it was hypothesized that object evaluations can be enhanced by associating them with attractive faces displaying direct gaze. In a conditioning paradigm, novel objects were associated with either attractive or unattractive female faces, either displaying direct or averted gaze. An affective priming task showed more positive automatic evaluations of objects that were paired with attractive faces with direct gaze than attractive faces with averted gaze and unattractive faces, irrespective of gaze direction. Participants' self-reported desire for the objects matched the affective priming data. The results are discussed against the background of recent findings on affective consequences of gaze cueing.
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