In the face of dominance: Self-perceived and other-perceived dominance are positively associated with facial-width-to-height ratio in men

In recent research, facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) has garnered considerable attention because it has been linked with different behavioural characteristics (e.g., achievement drive, deception, aggression). Here we examined whether other-perceptions and self-perceptions of dominance are related to fWHR. In study 1, we found that other-perceived dominance was positively associated with fWHR, but only in men. In studies 2 and 3, using two different self-perceived dominance scales, and two different samples of participants, we found that fWHR was positively related to self-perceived dominance, again only in men. There was no relationship between fWHR and self-perceived prestige scores. Consistent with previous work, we also found that there was no sexual dimorphism in fWHR across all three studies. Together these results suggest that fWHR may be a reliable cue to dominant social behaviour in men.     

Preferential processing of threatening facial expressions using the repetition blindness paradigm

Background: Neuroanatomical evidence suggests that the human brain has dedicated pathways to rapidly process threatening stimuli. This processing bias for threat was examined using the repetition blindness (RB) paradigm. RB (i.e., failure to report the second instance of an identical stimulus rapidly following the first) has been established for words, objects and faces but not, to date, facial expressions. Methods: 78 (Study 1) and 62 (Study 2) participants identified repeated and different, threatening and non-threatening emotional facial expressions in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams. Results: In Study 1, repeated facial expressions produced more RB than different expressions. RB was attenuated for threatening expressions. In Study 2, attenuation of RB for threatening expressions was replicated. Additionally, semantically related but non-identical threatening expressions reduced RB relative to non-threatening stimuli. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the threat bias is apparent in the temporal processing of facial expressions, and expands the RB paradigm by demonstrating that identical facial expressions are susceptible to the effect.     

An optimized facial stimuli paradigm for hybrid SSVEP+P300 brain computer interface

In this paper, hybrid BCI that merges Event Related Potentials (P300) and Steady State visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) simultaneously is proposed to enhance the performance of Four-choice command system. Here we integrate human facial structure in external visual stimulus to evoke stronger cortical responses in hybrid SSVEP+P300 BCI & compare it with non-face stimuli. We also addressed question of feasibility of eliciting one potential by face & other by non-face stimuli. To evoke SSVEP & P300 responses, paradigms with non-face stimuli, neutral face stimuli, and facial expression changes stimuli are proposed. We also projected additional paradigm where SSVEP is elicited by non-face and P300 by flashing different facial expressions. Results proved the last paradigm evoke stronger cortical potentials and thereby improve system accuracy and ITR than other paradigms. Author discussed external stimulus parameters that might affect simultaneous evocation of multiple brain potentials and their deterioration effect on individual potentials.     

Friend or foe: the effect of implicit trustworthiness judgments in social decision-making

The human face appears to play a key role in signaling social intentions and usually people form reliable and strong impressions on the basis of someone's facial appearance. Therefore, facial signals could have a substantial influence on how people evaluate and behave towards another person in a social interaction, such as an interactive risky decision-making game. Indeed, there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that social behavior plays a crucial role in human decision-making. Although previous research has demonstrated that explicit social information about one's partner can influence decision-making behavior, such as knowledge about the partner's moral status, much less is known about how implicit facial social cues affect strategic decision-making. One particular social cue that may be especially important in assessing how to interact with a partner is facial trustworthiness, a rapid, implicit assessment of the likelihood that the partner will reciprocate a generous gesture. In this experiment, we tested the hypothesis that implicit processing of trustworthiness is related to the degree to which participants cooperate with previously unknown partners. Participants played a Trust Game with 79 hypothetical partners who were previously rated on subjective trustworthiness. In each game, participants made a decision about how much to trust their partner, as measured by how much money they invested with that partner, with no guarantee of return. As predicted, people invested more money in partners who were subjectively rated as more trustworthy, despite no objective relationship between these factors. Moreover, the relationship between the amount of money offered seemed to be stronger for trustworthy faces as compared to untrustworthy faces. Overall, these data indicate that the perceived trustworthiness is a strong and important social cue that influences decision-making.     

Modulation of facial mimicry by attitudes

The current experiment explored the influence of attitudes on facial reactions to emotional faces. The participants’ attitudes (positive, neutral, and negative) towards three types of characters were manipulated by written reports. Afterwards participants saw happy, neutral, and sad facial expressions of the respective characters while their facial muscular reactions (M. Corrugator supercilii and M. Zygomaticus major) were recorded electromyografically. Results revealed facial mimicry reactions to happy and sad faces of positive characters, but less and even incongruent facial muscular reactions to happy and sad faces of negative characters. Overall, the results show that attitudes, formed in a few minutes, and only by reports and not by own experiences, can moderate automatic non-verbal social behavior, i.e. facial mimicry.     

感知到亲子间面孔相似性对亲子虐待的影响：一个双重调节模型

由于体内受精,父亲面临着父亲身份不确定性的风险,亲子间面孔相似性是辨别父亲身份的一个常用的有效线索,因此,父亲往往依据亲子间面孔相似性程度调整着亲子投资。而中国传统文化强调重男轻女,因此,父子间面孔相似性比父女间面孔相似性对父亲的亲子投资的预测效应更强。本研究采用自我报告的方法测量了212名中学生感知到亲子间面孔相似性、亲子虐待以及人口学变量。结果表明:（1）感知到的亲子间面孔相似性与亲子虐待中的精神虐待存在显著的相关,与身体虐待的相关没有达到显著水平;（2）父母的性别显著地调节着感知到亲子间面孔相似性对精神虐待的预测,具体而言, 父子（女）间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲的精神虐待,而母子（女）间面孔相似性对母亲精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平;（3）进一步的分析表明,子女的性别显著地调节着感知到父子（女）间面孔相似性对父亲精神虐待的影响,具体而言,父子间面孔相似性显著地预测父亲对儿子的精神虐待,但父女间面孔相似性对父亲对女儿的精神虐待的预测没有达到显著水平。研究结果支持并拓展了父亲身份不确定性假设。     

The effect of laughter expression modulation on emotional experience in 4 to 10 year-old children

According to the literature, in adulthood, facial expression control unconsciously generates a congruent change in emotional experience (facial feedback). Although only a few studies have been conducted on this phenomenon with children, it is to be expected that the strength of the link between facial expression and emotional experience will diminish with age, and consequently, that the facial feedback effect will decrease with age. In order to test this hypothesis, we used an emotional induction paradigm (based on funny video-clips) with an expressive change paradigm (i.e., free expression vs. laughter restriction vs. laughter exaggeration). The emotional experience of 4–10-year-old children was assessed a posteriori based on analyses of their narratives about the video-clips. Results indicated that the children benefited from a facial feedback effect on their emotional experiences without an age effect. They are discussed in the light of the literature on emotional regulation and emotional development.     

The contribution of facial regions to judgements of happiness and trustworthiness from dynamic expressions

What expressive facial features and processing mechanisms make a person look trustworthy, relative to happy? Participants judged the un/happiness or un/trustworthiness of people with dynamic expressions in which the eyes and/or the mouth unfolded from neutral to happy or vice versa. Faces with an unfolding smile looked more trustworthy and happier than faces with a neutral mouth, regardless of the eye expression. Unfolding happy eyes increased both trustworthiness and happiness only in the presence of a congruent unfolding smiling mouth. Nevertheless, the contribution of the mouth was greater for happiness than for trustworthiness; and the mouth was especially visually salient for expressions favouring happiness more than trustworthiness. We conclude that the categorisation of facial happiness is more automatically driven by the visual saliency of a single feature, that is, the smiling mouth, while perception of trustworthiness is more strategic, with the eyes being necessarily incorporated into a configural face representation.     

The sibling uncertainty hypothesis: Facial resemblance as a sibling recognition cue

For the same reason that fathers could not have been certain their mates’ offspring were their genetic progeny during human evolutionary history, full siblings could not have been certain that they shared paternal genes. Previous kin recognition research suggests facial resemblance is a cue men use to help solve the adaptive problem of paternity uncertainty and identify their biological offspring. Facial resemblance may also be a cue individuals use to identify siblings who share paternal genes. In the current study, facial resemblance between siblings was hypothesized to be positively associated with their emotional closeness and altruism, and inversely related with their frequency of conflict. Within families, individuals reported greater closeness and altruism toward siblings who more closely resembled them. In contrast with previous offspring recognition research, the effects of resemblance were not sex-differentiated, suggesting that facial resemblance is a cue both sexes use in sibling recognition.     

Increased visual interest and affective responses to impossible figures in early infancy

This research evaluated infants’ facial expressions as they viewed pictures of possible and impossible objects on a TV screen. Previous studies in our lab demonstrated that four-month-old infants looked longer at the impossible figures and fixated to a greater extent within the problematic region of the impossible shape, suggesting they were sensitive to novel or unusual object geometry. Our work takes studies of looking time data a step further, determining if increased looking co-occurs with facial expressions associated with increased visual interest and curiosity, or even puzzlement and surprise. We predicted that infants would display more facial expressions consistent with either “interest” or “surprise” when viewing the impossible objects relative to possible ones, which would provide further evidence of increased perceptual processing due to incompatible spatial information. Our results showed that the impossible cubes evoked both longer looking times and more reactive expressions in the majority of infants. Specifically, the data revealed significantly greater frequency of raised eyebrows, widened eyes and returns to looking when viewing impossible figures with the most robust effects occurring after a period of habituation. The pattern of facial expressions were consistent with the “interest” family of facial expressions and appears to reflect infants’ ability to perceive systematic differences between matched pairs of possible and impossible objects as well as recognize novel geometry found in impossible objects. Therefore, as young infants are beginning to register perceptual discrepancies in visual displays, their facial expressions may reflect heightened attention and increased information processing associated with identifying irreconcilable contours in line drawings of objects. This work further clarifies the ongoing formation and development of early mental representations of coherent 3D objects.