阈上阈下不同面孔表情下的注视线索提示效应

为考察阈上、阈下不同面孔表情下的注视线索提示效应, 实验以阈上和阈下面孔的不同注视朝向为提示线索, 同时变化面孔表情, 要求被试迅速和准确地对随后出现的靶刺激(大写字母)的呈现位置做出判断。结果显示, 在阈上呈现条件下, 注视线索提示效应显著, 且该效应不受面孔表情的影响。在阈下呈现条件下, 注视线索提示效应显著, 但该效应受到了面孔表情的调节, 表现为在注视线索无效时, 判断目标位置所需反应时在正性、负性面孔表情下显著长于中性面孔条件。上述结果说明, 阈上知觉时, 面孔表情虽被清晰感知, 但个体自上而下的控制机制使其被忽略, 因而未能影响个体的注意偏向; 阈下知觉时, 面孔表情得到自动加工, 并影响了个体的注意偏向。     

情绪性工作记忆对选择性注意的影响

选取大学本科生33名,采用情绪启动范式与再认范式相结合,要求被试依次完成情绪词识记、目标面孔性别判断及情绪词再认任务,探讨保存于工作记忆中的情绪性刺激对面孔性别判断任务的影响。结果显示:(1)在中性和恐惧情绪启动刺激条件下,被试对目标面孔性别判断的反应时要显著长于悲伤条件。(2)在愉悦情绪启动词条件下,线索提示有效性差异显著;在无效线索提示条件下,启动刺激的不同情绪效价差异显著。(3)对情绪面孔性别与被试性别一致性/非一致性两种条件下反应时对比发现,男、女被试在情绪面孔性别判断任务中均表现出异性相吸效应。综上所述,保存在工作记忆中情绪刺激会对面孔性别的识别产生自上而下的影响。     

注视方向和面部表情对注意朝向的影响

摘 要 本文以三种表情面孔为材料,运用事件相关电位（ERP）方法探讨表情线索在注意朝向中与注视转移发生的交互及两者如何共同影响观察者的反应。结果发现：（1）线索效应在三种表情面孔的两种SOA中都出现了;（2）SOA较长时,注视线索效应量间的显著差异出现在中性和恐惧面孔、高兴和恐惧面孔间;（3）面部表情的效应出现在了表情线索诱发的P1成分上;（4）目标诱发的P1和N1说明了注视线索效应的存在及与表情间的交互。结论：表情线索先对观察者的朝向反应产生影响,随后是注视线索及其与表情线索发生的交互。     

社会排斥和目标刺激的情绪交互影响情绪冲突控制

采用Cyberball任务和面孔-词Stroop任务探讨社会排斥和目标刺激的情绪是否交互影响情绪冲突控制。结果显示,社会排斥对情绪冲突控制的影响随着目标刺激情绪的变化而变化。具体表现为,当目标刺激为愤怒面孔时,排斥组被试与接纳组被试在反应时上表现出相似的情绪Stroop效应。然而,当目标刺激为高兴面孔时,排斥组被试比接纳组被试在反应时上表现出更大的情绪Stroop效应。该结果提示,在面孔-词Stroop任务中判断高兴面孔时,社会排斥增强了被试对任务无关消极信息的注意。该发现有助于深入理解社会排斥增加个体罹患情绪障碍风险的原因。     

本族和异族面孔表情注视的差异性：来自眼动的证据

采用无任务浏览范式,选取积极、中性和消极的情绪面孔作为材料,将面孔划分为3个兴趣区（眼睛、鼻子和嘴）,考察中国个体在加工本族与高加索情绪面孔的眼动注视特点。研究结果显示,在浏览本族的（积极、中性和消极）情绪面孔时,中国被试对眼睛和鼻子的注视次数和时长显著多于对嘴部的注视次数和时长。在浏览高加索的（积极、中性和消极）情绪面孔时,中国被试对眼睛和鼻子的注视次数和时长显著多于其对嘴部的注视次数和时长,并且对鼻子的注视次数和时长也显著多于眼睛的注视次数和时长。结果表明,在加工本族面孔表情,中国被试将鼻子和眼睛作为主要注视区域,而加工高加索面孔表情时则是将鼻子作为最主要注视区域,即中国被试加工本族和异族面孔表情的注视特点存在差异。     

阈上和阈下不同情绪线索对返回抑制的影响

为检验返回抑制是否受线索生物学意义的调节, 分别在实验一和实验二中以阈上和阈下不同情绪效价(高兴、生气和中性)的面孔为外源性线索, 变化同时提示位置的多寡, 要求被试对靶子尽可能快而准地作探测反应。实验一发现, 三种线索情况下均出现返回抑制且效应量无显著差异; 实验二发现, 线索为中性面孔时出现返回抑制, 线索为高兴和生气面孔时未出现返回抑制。说明返回抑制受线索生物学意义的调节。阈下线索的生物学意义(情绪效价)能得到自动加工, 从而影响空间注意的转移和返回抑制机制的功用; 阈上线索的情绪效价被清晰感知时, 自上而下的注意控制机制使线索的生物学意义被忽略, 从而阻碍情绪效价功能的发挥。     

线索类型对阈下注视线索效应的影响

实验结合连续闪烁抑制范式和线索化范式, 通过操纵直视面孔和斜视面孔的呈现方式, 考察了动静线索类型对注视线索效应的影响。结果表明：两种线索在阈上条件都能产生注视线索效应, 且动态线索诱发的效应更大; 无意识条件下有且仅有动态注视线索能诱发注视线索效应。这说明眼睛运动是产生阈下注视线索效应的必要条件; 眼睛运动会增强阈上注视线索效应, 静态注视线索效应依赖于意识。研究结果支持了社会知觉与心理理论交互模型。     

阈下情绪启动对人际判断的影响

通过3个实验探讨了阈下情绪启动对人际判断的影响作用.实验1的结果显示,在阈下呈现快乐面孔的条件下,被试对随后中性面孔的喜好判断显著高于阈下呈现中性面孔和阈下呈现恐惧面孔的条件.实验2的结果显示,在阈下呈现快乐面孔的条件下,被试对随后中性面孔的趋向反应显著高于阈下呈现恐惧面孔的条件.实验3的结果显示,阈下呈现的情绪人物面孔引发的正负情绪效价,不管对新异性的中性人物面孔图片,还是熟悉性的中性人物面孔图片的喜好态度都产生了影响.总之,在情绪的正负效价水平上,阈下情绪启动会影响被试随后的人际判断.     

哭泣表情面孔的注意偏向:眼动的证据

研究采用双选择Oddball范式和线索-靶子范式,并结合眼动技术,以微笑、哭泣和中性表情面孔为刺激材料,综合考察哭泣表情面孔在识别和解离过程中的注意偏向。研究发现:在识别阶段,哭泣表情面孔的识别正确率和反应速度都显著优于微笑表情面孔,进一步的兴趣区注视偏向分析发现,哭泣和微笑表情面孔的注视模式既具有一致的规律,又存在细微的差异;在解离阶段,返回抑制受线索表情类型的影响,在有效线索条件下,哭泣表情线索呈现后个体对目标刺激的平均注视时间和眼跳潜伏期都显著短于其它表情线索。表明哭泣表情面孔在识别和解离过程中具有不同的注意偏向表现,在识别阶段表现为反应输出优势和注视模式上的一致性与差异性;在解离阶段表现为有效线索条件下,对目标刺激定位和视觉加工的促进作用。     

注视方向的知觉对注视追随行为的影响

他人的注视线索可诱导观察者将注意自动地转移到该线索所指示的方向上去(注视追随), 但仍不清楚注视方向的知觉在注视追随中起到何种作用。本研究结合注视适应和注视线索提示范式发现：知觉到的注视线索角度越大, 其线索提示效应越强; 知觉适应后被试判断注视方向的准确性下降, 注视线索引起的注意转移量显著减少。可见, 对注视方向的知觉能直接影响注视追随行为, 而注视方向抽取受到刺激显著性(注视角度)和知觉适应等因素的调节。这提示：在意识状态下, 注视知觉与注视追随存在直接联系, 即可能存在从注视知觉系统到注意转移系统的皮层加工通路; 注视追随并非纯粹的反射式加工, 它受自上而下知觉经验的调节。     

The effectiveness of a gaze cue depends on the facial expression of emotion: Evidence from simultaneous competing cues

The gaze of a fearful face should be a particularly effective cue to attention; it allows one to rapidly allocate attention to potential threats. Prior data from investigations of this issue have been mixed. We report a novel method in which the gazes of two faces simultaneously cued different directions. Across trials, the emotion expressed by each face varied between happy, neutral, and fearful. Results showed that attention followed a fearful gaze when it competed with a neutral gaze but did not consistently follow a happy gaze when it competed with a neutral gaze. These results suggest that fear moderates the effectiveness of gaze cuing, and we present a parsimonious account that reconciles previously inconsistent data. We also found that presenting a fearful and a happy face simultaneously eliminates this effect, suggesting that emotional expressions interact in ways that may be important for understanding how emotional stimuli influence attention in more complex environments.     

Emotionally meaningful targets enhance orienting triggered by a fearful gazing face

Studies investigating the effect of emotional expression on spatial orienting to a gazed-at location have produced mixed results. The present study investigated the role of affective context in the integration of emotion processing and gaze-triggered orienting. In three experiments, a face gazed non-predictively to the left or right, and then its expression became fearful or happy. Participants identified (Experiments 1 and 2) or detected (Experiment 3) a peripheral target presented 225 or 525 ms after the gaze cue onset. In Experiments 1 and 3 the targets were either threatening (a snarling dog) or non-threatening (a smiling baby); in Experiment 2 the targets were neutral. With emotionally valenced targets, the gaze-cuing effect was larger when the face was fearful compared to happy—but only with the longer cue–target interval. With neutral targets, there was no interaction between gaze and expression. Our results indicate that a meaningful context optimises attentional integration of gaze and expression information.     

Long-lasting effects of subliminal affective priming from facial expressions

Unconscious processing of stimuli with emotional content can bias affective judgments. Is this subliminal affective priming merely a transient phenomenon manifested in fleeting perceptual changes, or are long-lasting effects also induced? To address this question, we investigated memory for surprise faces 24 h after they had been shown with 30-ms fearful, happy, or neutral faces. Surprise faces subliminally primed by happy faces were initially rated as more positive, and were later remembered better, than those primed by fearful or neutral faces. Participants likely to have processed primes supraliminally did not respond differentially as a function of expression. These results converge with findings showing memory advantages with happy expressions, though here the expressions were displayed on the face of a different person, perceived subliminally, and not present at test. We conclude that behavioral biases induced by masked emotional expressions are not ephemeral, but rather can last at least 24 h.     

The amygdala is involved in affective priming effect for fearful faces

The object of this study was to investigate whether the amygdala is involved in affective priming effect after stimuli are encoded unconsciously and consciously. During the encoding phase, each masked face (fearful or neutral) was presented to participants six times for 17ms each, using a backward masking paradigm. During the retrieval phase, participants made a fearful/neutral judgment for each face. Half of the faces had the same valence as that seen during encoding (congruent condition) and the other half did not (incongruent condition). Participants were divided into unaware and aware groups based on their subjective and objective awareness assessments. The fMRI results showed that during encoding, the amygdala elicited stronger activation for fearful faces than neutral faces but differed in the hemisphere according to the awareness level. During retrieval, the amygdala showed a significant repetition priming effect, with the congruent faces producing less activation than the incongruent faces, especially for fearful faces. These data suggest that the amygdala is important in unconscious retrieving of memories for emotional faces whether they are encoded consciously or unconsciously.     

Emotionally meaningful targets enhance orienting triggered by a fearful gazing face

Studies investigating the effect of emotional expression on spatial orienting to a gazed-at location have produced mixed results. The present study investigated the role of affective context in the integration of emotion processing and gaze-triggered orienting. In three experiments, a face gazed nonpredictively to the left or right, and then its expression became fearful or happy. Participants identified (Experiments 1 and 2) or detected (Experiment 3) a peripheral target presented 225 or 525 ms after the gaze cue onset. In Experiments 1 and 3 the targets were either threatening (a snarling dog) or nonthreatening (a smiling baby); in Experiment 2 the targets were neutral. With emotionally-valenced targets, the gaze-cuing effect was larger when the face was fearful compared to happy--but only with the longer cue-target interval. With neutral targets, there was no interaction between gaze and expression. Our results indicate that a meaningful context optimizes attentional integration of gaze and expression information.     

The combined effect of gaze direction and facial expression on cueing spatial attention

Empirical evidence shows an effect of gaze direction on cueing spatial attention, regardless of the emotional expression shown by a face, whereas a combined effect of gaze direction and facial expression has been observed on individuals' evaluative judgments. In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether gaze direction and facial expression affect spatial attention depending upon the presence of an evaluative goal. Disgusted, fearful, happy, or neutral faces gazing left or right were followed by positive or negative target words presented either at the spatial location looked at by the face or at the opposite spatial location. Participants responded to target words based on affective valence (i.e., positive/negative) in Experiment 1 and on letter case (lowercase/uppercase) in Experiment 2. Results showed that participants responded much faster to targets presented at the spatial location looked at by disgusted or fearful faces but only in Experiment 1, when an evaluative task was used. The present findings clearly show that negative facial expressions enhance the attentional shifts due to eye-gaze direction, provided that there was an explicit evaluative goal present.     

Gaze cueing elicited by emotional faces is influenced by affective context

When we observe someone shift their gaze to a peripheral event or object, a corresponding shift in our own attention often follows. This social orienting response, joint attention, has been studied in the laboratory using the gaze cueing paradigm. Here, we investigate the combined influence of the emotional content displayed in two critical components of a joint attention episode: The facial expression of the cue face, and the affective nature of the to-be-localized target object. Hence, we presented participants with happy and disgusted faces as cueing stimuli, and neutral (Experiment 1), pleasant and unpleasant (Experiment 2) pictures as target stimuli. The findings demonstrate an effect of ‘emotional context’ confined to participants viewing pleasant pictures. Specifically, gaze cueing was boosted when the emotion of the gazing face (i.e., happy) matched that of the targets (pleasant). Demonstrating modulation by emotional context highlights the vital flexibility that a successful joint attention system requires in order to assist our navigation of the social world.     

The influence of extrafoveal emotional faces on prosaccade latencies

Across three experiments we sought to determine whether extrafoveally presented emotional faces are processed sufficiently rapidly to influence saccade programming. Two rectangular targets containing a neutral and an emotional face were presented either side of a central fixation cross. Participants made prosaccades towards an abrupt luminosity change to the border of one of the rectangles. The faces appeared 150 ms before or simultaneously with the cue. Saccades were faster towards cued rectangles containing emotional compared to neutral faces even when the rectangles were positioned 12 degrees from the fixation cross. When faces were inverted, the facilitative effect of emotion only emerged in the ?150 ms SOA condition, possibly reflecting a shift from configural to featural face processing. Together the results suggest that the human brain is highly specialized for processing emotional information and responds very rapidly to the brief presentation of expressive faces, even when these are located outside foveal vision.