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Updated: May 31, 2026

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
Age and motivation predict gaze behavior for facial expressions
Jana Nikitin1, Alexandra M Freund
1Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14 (P.O. Box 11), CH–8050 Zurich, Switzerland. nikitin@psychologie.uzh.ch
Abstract:
This study investigated age-related differences between younger (M = 25.52 years) and older (M = 70.51 years) adults in avoidance motivation and the influence of avoidance motivation on gaze preferences for happy, neutral, and angry faces. In line with the hypothesis of reduced negativity effect later in life, older adults avoided angry faces and (to a lesser degree) preferred happy faces more than younger adults did. This effect cannot be explained by age-related changes in dispositional motivation. Irrespective of age, avoidance motivation predicted gaze behavior towards emotional faces. The study demonstrates the importance of interindividual differences beyond young adulthood.
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