Avoidance of emotional facial expressions in social anxiety: The Approach-Avoidance Task

The Approach–Avoidance Task (AAT) was employed to indirectly investigate avoidance reactions to stimuli of potential social threat. Forty-three highly socially anxious individuals (HSAs) and 43 non-anxious controls (NACs) reacted to pictures of emotional facial expressions (angry, neutral, or smiling) or to control pictures (puzzles) by pulling a joystick towards themselves (approach) versus pushing it away from themselves (avoidance). HSAs showed stronger avoidance tendencies than NACs for smiling as well as angry faces, whereas no group differences were found for neutral faces and puzzles. In contrast, valence ratings of the emotional facial expressions did not differ between groups. A critical discrepancy between direct and indirect measures was observed for smiling faces: HSAs evaluated them positively, but reacted to them with avoidance.     

Spontaneous facial mimicry in response to dynamic facial expressions

Based on previous neuroscientific evidence indicating activation of the mirror neuron system in response to dynamic facial actions, we hypothesized that facial mimicry would occur while subjects viewed dynamic facial expressions. To test this hypothesis, dynamic/static facial expressions of anger/happiness were presented using computer-morphing (Experiment 1) and videos (Experiment 2). The subjects' facial actions were unobtrusively videotaped and blindly coded using Facial Action Coding System [FACS; Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). Facial action coding system. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist]. In the dynamic presentations common to both experiments, brow lowering, a prototypical action in angry expressions, occurred more frequently in response to angry expressions than to happy expressions. The pulling of lip corners, a prototypical action in happy expressions, occurred more frequently in response to happy expressions than to angry expressions in dynamic presentations. Additionally, the mean latency of these actions was less than 900 ms after the onset of dynamic changes in facial expression. Naive raters recognized the subjects' facial reactions as emotional expressions, with the valence corresponding to the dynamic facial expressions that the subjects were viewing. These results indicate that dynamic facial expressions elicit spontaneous and rapid facial mimicry, which functions both as a form of intra-individual processing and as inter-individual communication.     

不同时距条件下面孔表情知觉的时间整合效应

通过把面孔表情分割成三部分,按照不同的时间间隔以及不同的呈现时间相继呈现,考察了被试对面孔表情的时间整合效果,以此探讨时间整合的加工过程和影响因素。结果发现：（1）面孔表情的时间整合效果受时间结构和刺激材料的影响。（2）分离呈现的面孔表情能否进行时间整合与SOA的大小有关。（3）面孔表情的时间整合存在类型差异。（4）面孔表情的时间整合是在一个有限的视觉缓冲器内进行的,图像记忆和长时记忆与面孔表情的时间整合过程关系密切。     

Shared suffering can mitigate aversively‐generated aggression:

Although considerable research indicates that aversive conditions (such as uncomfortably high temperatures) often evoke aggressive inclinations, there is also evidence that people are attracted to those who share their discomfort. In a 2 × 2 design, female participants in either a hot or comfortable room worked with a nearby partner exposed to the same temperature but whose reactions to the temperature were either the same as, or different from, their feelings about the temperature. The women in a fifth condition had a partner situated in a room with a comfortable temperature . Consistent with Schachter's [1959] social–emotional comparison theory, the highest level of aggression was displayed by the participants in the hot room working with a partner whose emotional reactions were different from their own, whereas their counterparts, also exposed to the high temperature but whose partner's feelings were similar to their own, exhibited the least aggression over all the trials. Aggr. Behav. 32:80–87, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

表情强度对自闭症儿童面部表情识别影响的实验研究

为探寻自闭症儿童在识别低强度（10%,30%）、中强度（40%,60%）和高强度（70%,90%）的愤怒和开心面部表情时,识别情绪类型的既有能力和差异。采用表情标签范式,用E-prime软件在电脑上呈现不同强度的3D合成面部表情刺激,分别对10名自闭症儿童、10名正常发育儿童和10名智障儿童进行了实验研究。结果发现,自闭症儿童在低强度表情时具有面部表情识别障碍,其对不同强度面部表情识别正确率显著低于智障儿童和正常发育儿童;自闭症儿童面部表情识别正确率与面部表情强度呈正相关,面部表情强度越大,自闭症儿童面部表情识别的正确率越高;自闭症儿童对低强度面部表情识别时,对开心表情的识别正确率高于愤怒表情,但是,在中强度和高强度面部表情识别时,存在显著的愤怒优势效应。     

Five-months-olds' attention and affective responses to still-faced emotional expressions

Mothers posed happy, sad, or neutral still-faces (SFs) between periods of normal interactions. Lowered infant attention and affect and increased grimacing occured during SF regardless of emotional expression posed during the SF period. Different static expressions elicited differential smiling; infants smiled slightly but significantly more to happy SFs. Greater differences occured with changes in contingent aspects of interactions.     

互动情境下个体对他人面部表情的加工受到他人社会地位的影响

前人研究表明他人的社会地位影响个体对其面部表情的加工,但是他人地位如何影响个体对其面部表情加工的神经机制并不清楚。本研究首先让被试完成时间估计任务,然后让评价者（高VS低地位）根据被试任务成绩给予面部表情（愉悦、中性和愤怒）反馈,同时记录被试加工评价者面部表情的ERP成分。脑电结果发现,在早期的P1阶段,当评价者给予愤怒和愉悦表情作为反馈评价刺激时,低地位评价者比高地位评价者诱发了更强的P1波幅;在N2加工阶段,只有当评价者给予愉悦表情作为反馈评价刺激时,高地位评价者比低地位评价者诱发的N2波幅更强;在后期P3加工阶段,只有当评价者给予愉悦表情作为反馈评价刺激时,低地位评价者比高地位评价者诱发了更强的P3波幅。当前研究结果说明评价者的地位不仅影响了个体对其面部表情加工的早期阶段,而且还影响了个体对其面部表情加工的后期阶段。     

Perception and Expressing Habits of Smiling and Angry Expressions Modulated by Facial Physical Attractiveness in Asian Female Persons

In this study, we investigated the effects of facial physical attractiveness on perception and expressing habit of smiling and angry expressions. In experiment 1, 20 participants rated 60 photo subjects’ smiling and angry expressions of uncontrolled physical expression configuration. The results showed that for the angry faces, the perceived expression intensity and the expression naturalness in the attractive group were significantly stronger than those in the unattractive group; for the smiling faces, this attractiveness bias was not observed. In experiment 2, using artificial expressions made by an identical expression template, interestingly, the perceived expression intensity and the expression naturalness of the smiling faces in the attractive group were stronger than those in the unattractive group, while the impression strength of anger between the two groups was approximately the same. A comparison of the two observations suggests that facial physical attractiveness can enhance the perceived intensity of a smiling expression but not an angry expression, and that the inconsistencies between the two experiments are due to the difference of expressing habits between unattractive and attractive persons. These results have implications as regards the effect of facial attractiveness on the expressing habits of expression senders and the person’s development of social skills.     

背景颜色对中性面孔情绪识别的影响:隐喻的视角

为考察背景颜色对中性面孔情绪识别的影响及时间特征,采用混合实验设计,背景颜色为组内变量,呈现时间为组间变量,要求被试报告对中性面孔的愉快体验及其程度。结果发现:(1)背景颜色主效应显著,相较于冷色调,暖色调背景下,中性面孔愉快感知百分比更高,愉快程度评定分数也更高。(2)颜色和时间的交互作用不存在显著差异。这表明,背景颜色影响个体对中性面孔图片的情绪识别,且该效应在不同时间进程下均存在。     

情境对面孔表情识别的影响

长期以来,关于面孔表情识别的研究主要是围绕着面孔本身的结构特征来进行的,但是近年来的研究发现,面孔表情的识别也会受到其所在的情境背景（如语言文字、身体背景、自然与社会场景等）的影响,特别是在识别表情相似的面孔时,情境对面孔表情识别的影响更大。本文首先介绍和分析了近几年关于语言文字、身体动作、自然场景和社会场景等情境影响个体对面孔表情的识别的有关研究;其次,又分析了文化背景、年龄以及焦虑程度等因素对面孔表情识别情境效应的影响;最后,强调了未来的研究应重视研究儿童被试群体、拓展情绪的类别、关注真实生活中的面孔情绪感知等。