New York, (IANS) The brain notices a fearful look faster than a smile. American researchers feel this may be so because happy faces signal safety and do not require immediate attention.
To assess if certain emotions prompt a faster reaction, scientists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, told volunteers to look at a screen through a viewer. The viewer was similar to the eyepieces on a microscope, which allowed different images to be presented to each eye.
The team found that the participants became more conscious of faces with fearful expressions rather than neutral or happy faces, reported the online edition of BBC News.
“We believe that the brain can detect certain cues even before we are aware of them so that we can direct our attention to potentially threatening situations in our environment,” said the study’s co-author, David Zald.