O Efeito Simon induzido pela direção do olhar em faces de dor e alegria.

Abstract

Although irrelevant to the task, the direction of the look can influence the reaction time in a Simon task, automatically generating a spatial code. Facial expressions influence the responses of observers, activating behavioral tendencies of approach or distance. In the present study, it was investigated whether the facilitation of the response triggered by the direction of the gaze would be reduced in the evaluation of facial expressions of pain compared to joy. The sequence effect of the presentation of the expressions was also analyzed, where the facilitation or inhibition provoked by an emotional expression affects the response in the subsequent test. For this study the technique of mental timing was used through the private experimental software E-Prime 2.0 (Psychology Software Tools, Pittsburgh, PA). Through this, the 20 volunteers were submitted to the identification of 320 schematic faces in a randomized manner, divided in 4 blocks, where the time was taken in which they took to identify each face. The results show that the painful faces cause inhibition of the response in the current and posterior test, indicating emotional empathy for pain. The type of facial expression did not influence the facilitation of the response promoted by the direction of the eye. This methodology is presented as a strategy to investigate emotional empathy, especially in disorders related to the reduction of empathy.