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Prete G, Ceccato I, Bartolini E, Di Crosta A, La Malva P, Palumbo R, Laeng B, Tommasi L, Mammarella N, Di Domenico A. Detecting implicit and explicit facial emotions at different ages. Eur J Ageing 2024; 21:8. [PMID: 38499844 PMCID: PMC10948669 DOI: 10.1007/s10433-024-00805-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Emotions are processed in the brain through a cortical route, responsible for detailed-conscious recognition and mainly based on image High Spatial Frequencies (HSF), and a subcortical route, responsible for coarse-unconscious processing and based on Low SF (LSF). However, little is known about possible changes in the functioning of the two routes in ageing. In the present go/no-go online task, 112 younger adults and 111 older adults were asked to press a button when a happy or angry face appeared (go) and to inhibit responses for neutral faces (no-go). Facial stimuli were presented unfiltered (broadband image), filtered at HSF and LSF, and hybrids (LSF of an emotional expression superimposed to the HSF of the same face with a neutral expression). All stimuli were also presented rotated on the vertical axis (upside-down) to investigate the global analysis of faces in ageing. Results showed an overall better performance of younger compared to older participants for all conditions except for hybrid stimuli. The expected face-inversion effect was confirmed in both age groups. We conclude that, besides an overall worsening of the perceptual skill with ageing, no specific impairment in the functioning of both the cortical and the subcortical route emerged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Irene Ceccato
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy.
| | - Emanuela Bartolini
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Adolfo Di Crosta
- Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Pasquale La Malva
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Rocco Palumbo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Nicola Mammarella
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Alberto Di Domenico
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, 31, Via Dei Vestini, 66013, Chieti, Italy
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2
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Nguyen HN, Tamura H, Minami T, Nakauchi S. The effect of facial colour on implicit facial expressions. Cogn Emot 2023; 37:1290-1297. [PMID: 37715523 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2258575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
Humans recognise reddish-coloured faces as angry. However, does facial colour also affect "implicit" facial expression perception of which humans are not explicitly aware? In this study, we investigated the effects of facial colour on implicit facial expression perception. The experimental stimuli were "hybrid faces", in which the low-frequency component of the neutral facial expression image was replaced with the low-frequency component of the facial expression image of happiness or anger. In Experiment 1, we confirmed that the hybrid face stimuli were perceived as neutral and, therefore, supported implicit facial expression perception. In Experiment 2, the hybrid face stimuli were adjusted to natural and reddish facial colours, and their friendliness ratings were compared. The results showed that the expression of happiness was rated as more friendly than the expression of anger. In addition, the expression of happiness was rated as friendlier when the low-frequency happy component was red, but the friendliness rating of the expression of anger did not change when it was presented in red. In Experiment 3, we affirmed the implicit facial expression perception even in reddish colours. These results suggest that facial colour modulates the perception of implicit facial expressions in hybrid facial stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hoang Nam Nguyen
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan
| | - Hideki Tamura
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan
| | - Tetsuto Minami
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan
| | - Shigeki Nakauchi
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan
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3
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Face processing still predicts reading ability: evidence from developmental prosopagnosia. A reply to Gerlach and Starrfelt (2022). Cortex 2022; 154:340-347. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Sato W, Usui N, Sawada R, Kondo A, Toichi M, Inoue Y. Impairment of emotional expression detection after unilateral medial temporal structure resection. Sci Rep 2021; 11:20617. [PMID: 34663869 PMCID: PMC8523523 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99945-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Detecting emotional facial expressions is an initial and indispensable component of face-to-face communication. Neuropsychological studies on the neural substrates of this process have shown that bilateral amygdala lesions impaired the detection of emotional facial expressions. However, the findings were inconsistent, possibly due to the limited number of patients examined. Furthermore, whether this processing is based on emotional or visual factors of facial expressions remains unknown. To investigate this issue, we tested a group of patients (n = 23) with unilateral resection of medial temporal lobe structures, including the amygdala, and compared their performance under resected- and intact-hemisphere stimulation conditions. The participants were asked to detect normal facial expressions of anger and happiness, and artificially created anti-expressions, among a crowd with neutral expressions. Reaction times for the detection of normal expressions versus anti-expressions were shorter when the target faces were presented to the visual field contralateral to the intact hemisphere (i.e., stimulation of the intact hemisphere; e.g., right visual field for patients with right hemispheric resection) compared with the visual field contralateral to the resected hemisphere (i.e., stimulation of the resected hemisphere). Our findings imply that the medial temporal lobe structures, including the amygdala, play an essential role in the detection of emotional facial expressions, according to the emotional significance of the expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Psychological Process Team, Guardian Robot Project, RIKEN, 2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, 619-0288, Japan.
| | - Naotaka Usui
- National Epilepsy Center, NHO Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan.
| | - Reiko Sawada
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan
| | - Akihiko Kondo
- National Epilepsy Center, NHO Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan
| | - Motomi Toichi
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan
| | - Yushi Inoue
- National Epilepsy Center, NHO Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan
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5
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Passarelli M, Masini M, Chiorri C, Nurcis A, Daini R, Bracco F. Implicit evidence on the dissociation of identity and emotion recognition. Cogn Process 2021; 23:79-90. [PMID: 34618254 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01061-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Recognition of identity and of emotional facial expressions of individuals are both based on processing of the human face. While most studies show these abilities to be dissociated, some others find evidence of a connection. One possible explanation for these contradictory results comes from neurological evidence, which points to identity recognition being mostly based on holistic processing, while emotion recognition seems to be based on both an explicit, fine-grained process, and an implicit, mostly-holistic one. Our main hypothesis, that would explain the contradictory findings, is that holistic implicit emotion recognition, specifically, would be related to identity recognition, while explicit emotion recognition would be a process separate to identity recognition. To test this hypothesis, we employed an experimental paradigm in which spatial frequencies of visual stimuli are manipulated so that automatic, holistic-based, implicit emotion recognition influences perceived friendliness of unfamiliar faces. We predicted the effect to be related to identity recognition ability, since they both require holistic face processing. After a successful replication study, we employed the paradigm with 140 participants, measuring also identity recognition ability and explicit emotion recognition ability. Results showed that the effect is not moderated by these two variables (p = .807 and .373, respectively), suggesting that the independence of identity and emotion recognition holds even when considering, specifically, implicit emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcello Passarelli
- ITD - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via de Marini 6, 16149, Genova, Italy.
| | - Michele Masini
- V.I.E. (Valorizzazione Innovazione Empowerment), Viale Brigata Bisagno 12/4, 16129, Genova, Italy
| | - Carlo Chiorri
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Andrea Podestà 2, 16139, Genova, Italy
| | - Alessandro Nurcis
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Andrea Podestà 2, 16139, Genova, Italy
| | - Roberta Daini
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milano, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Bracco
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Andrea Podestà 2, 16139, Genova, Italy
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6
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Tommasi V, Prete G, Tommasi L. The role of low spatial frequencies in facial emotion processing: A study on anorthoscopic perception. VISUAL COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2021.1966150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vincenza Tommasi
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Giulia Prete
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
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7
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Poncet F, Soussignan R, Jaffiol M, Gaudelus B, Leleu A, Demily C, Franck N, Baudouin JY. The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245777. [PMID: 33497409 PMCID: PMC7837501 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognizing facial expressions of emotions is a fundamental ability for adaptation to the social environment. To date, it remains unclear whether the spatial distribution of eye movements predicts accurate recognition or, on the contrary, confusion in the recognition of facial emotions. In the present study, we asked participants to recognize facial emotions while monitoring their gaze behavior using eye-tracking technology. In Experiment 1a, 40 participants (20 women) performed a classic facial emotion recognition task with a 5-choice procedure (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness). In Experiment 1b, a second group of 40 participants (20 women) was exposed to the same materials and procedure except that they were instructed to say whether (i.e., Yes/No response) the face expressed a specific emotion (e.g., anger), with the five emotion categories tested in distinct blocks. In Experiment 2, two groups of 32 participants performed the same task as in Experiment 1a while exposed to partial facial expressions composed of actions units (AUs) present or absent in some parts of the face (top, middle, or bottom). The coding of the AUs produced by the models showed complex facial configurations for most emotional expressions, with several AUs in common. Eye-tracking data indicated that relevant facial actions were actively gazed at by the decoders during both accurate recognition and errors. False recognition was mainly associated with the additional visual exploration of less relevant facial actions in regions containing ambiguous AUs or AUs relevant to other emotional expressions. Finally, the recognition of facial emotions from partial expressions showed that no single facial actions were necessary to effectively communicate an emotional state. In contrast, the recognition of facial emotions relied on the integration of a complex set of facial cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Poncet
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
- * E-mail: (FP); (JYB)
| | - Robert Soussignan
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Margaux Jaffiol
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Baptiste Gaudelus
- Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale et de Remédiation Cognitive, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier & Université Lyon 1 (CNRS UMR 5229), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Arnaud Leleu
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Caroline Demily
- Reference Center for Rare Diseases with Psychiatric Phenotype GénoPsy, Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier, Marc Jeannerod Institute (CNRS & Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University), Bron, France
| | - Nicolas Franck
- Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale et de Remédiation Cognitive, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier & Université Lyon 1 (CNRS UMR 5229), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Yves Baudouin
- Laboratoire Développement, Individu, Processus, Handicap, Éducation (DIPHE), Département Psychologie du Développement, de l'Éducation et des Vulnérabilités (PsyDEV), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Lyon (Lumière Lyon 2), Lyon, France
- * E-mail: (FP); (JYB)
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8
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Stanković M. A conceptual critique of brain lateralization models in emotional face perception: Toward a hemispheric functional-equivalence (HFE) model. Int J Psychophysiol 2020; 160:57-70. [PMID: 33186657 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2020] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The present review proposes a novel dynamic model of brain lateralization of emotional (happy, surprised, fearful, sad, angry, and disgusted) and neutral face perception. Evidence to date suggests that emotional face perception is lateralized in the brain. At least five prominent hypotheses of the lateralization of emotional face perception have been previously proposed; the right-hemisphere hypothesis; the valence-specific hypothesis; the modified valence-specific hypothesis; the motivational hypothesis; and behavioral activation/inhibition system hypothesis. However, a growing number of recent replication studies exploring those hypotheses frequently provide inconsistent or even contradictory results. The latest neuroimaging and behavioral studies strongly demonstrate the functional capacity of both hemispheres to process emotions relatively successfully. Moreover, the flexibility of emotional brain-networks in both hemispheres is functionally high even to the extent of a possible reversed asymmetry of the left and the right hemisphere performance under altered neurophysiological and psychological conditions. The present review aims to a) provide a critical conceptual analysis of prior and current hypotheses of brain lateralization of emotional and neutral face perception; b) propose an integrative introduction of a novel hemispheric functional-equivalence (HFE) model in emotional and neutral face perception based on the evaluation of theoretical considerations, behavioral and neuroimaging studies: the brain is initially right-biased in emotional and neutral face perception by default; however, altered psychophysiological conditions (e.g., acute stress, a demanding emotional task) activate a distributed brain-network of both hemispheres toward functional equivalence that results in relatively equalized behavioral performance in emotional and neutral face perception. The proposed novel model may provide a practical tool in further experimental investigation of brain lateralization of emotional face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miloš Stanković
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
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9
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Pecchinenda A, Monachesi B, Laeng B. Fearful expressions of rapidly presented hybrid-faces modulate the lag 1 sparing in the attentional blink. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 209:103124. [PMID: 32603914 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2020] [Revised: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is evidence that emotional stimuli impair attention for subsequent stimuli when presented in rapid visual succession. We investigated whether non-visible emotions of hybrid faces showing either happy or afraid expressions only in their Low Spatial Frequencies (LSF) and neutral expressions in their High Spatial Frequencies (HSF) modulate temporal selective attention. In a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) paradigm, two target-faces (T1 and T2) were presented briefly at different temporal distances (lags) in a stream of inverted distractor-faces: T1s were either neutral, happy-hybrid or afraid-hybrid faces; T2s were always neutral faces. When participants reported T1 and T2 gender, performance was impaired across all early lags, especially after afraid-hybrid faces. When participants reported T1 orientation and T2 gender, results showed that the LSF emotion of T1s affected temporal selective attention engendering a longer AB (over lag 2 and lag 3) than neutral T1s. Interestingly, only afraid-hybrid T1s improved processing of T2 at lag 1 (i.e., sparing). Our findings show that some core emotional content is implicitly processed from the LSF of hybrid T1s since the effects on temporal selective attention are emotion specific.
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10
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Lander K, Butcher NL. Recognizing Genuine From Posed Facial Expressions: Exploring the Role of Dynamic Information and Face Familiarity. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1378. [PMID: 32719634 PMCID: PMC7347903 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The accurate recognition of emotion is important for interpersonal interaction and when navigating our social world. However, not all facial displays reflect the emotional experience currently being felt by the expresser. Indeed, faces express both genuine and posed displays of emotion. In this article, we summarize the importance of motion for the recognition of face identity before critically outlining the role of dynamic information in determining facial expressions and distinguishing between genuine and posed expressions of emotion. We propose that both dynamic information and face familiarity may modulate our ability to determine whether an expression is genuine or not. Finally, we consider the shared role for dynamic information across different face recognition tasks and the wider impact of face familiarity on determining genuine from posed expressions during real-world interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Lander
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Natalie L Butcher
- School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
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11
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Trent J, Ferguson Y. How Ethnicity, Expression, and Study Design Influence First Impressions of Approachability. Psychol Rep 2020; 124:862-895. [PMID: 32192394 DOI: 10.1177/0033294120909458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Over two studies, participants (total N = 642) rated a community sample of photographs of Black, East Asian, and White males who were smiling or portraying a neutral expression to see how participant ethnicity, target ethnicity, and target expression influence judgments of approachability (i.e., trustworthiness, friendliness, and threat). We also examined how a commonly used study design, in which each participant is asked to evaluate different groups of people, may motivate participants to adjust their ratings in an effort to avoid appearing biased. Results showed that the White participant group tended to rate smiling targets as friendlier (Studies 1 and 2) and more trustworthy (Study 1) than did the non-White participant group, which could be due to cultural differences based on majority versus minority status among the participants. In addition, the White participant group tended to rate White targets more positively than did the non-White participant group, suggesting an in-group bias. Finally, differences in results between Studies 1 and 2 suggest that study design can influence the degree of bias responding, highlighting the importance of incorporating a diversity of methods to better understand first impression judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Trent
- 6710Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA.,4271Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA
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12
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Øvervoll M, Schettino I, Suzuki H, Okubo M, Laeng B. Filtered beauty in Oslo and Tokyo: A spatial frequency analysis of facial attractiveness. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0227513. [PMID: 31935264 PMCID: PMC6959585 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Images of European female and male faces were digitally processed to generate spatial frequency (SF) filtered images containing only a narrow band of visual information within the Fourier spectrum. The original unfiltered images and four SF filtered images (low, medium-low, medium-high and high) were then paired in trials that kept constant SF band and face gender and participants made a forced-choice decision about the more attractive among the two faces. In this way, we aimed at identifying those specific SF bands where forced-choice preferences corresponded best to forced-choice judgements made when viewing the natural, broadband, facial images. We found that aesthetic preferences dissociated across SFs and face gender, but similarly for participants from Asia (Japan) and Europe (Norway). Specifically, preferences when viewing SF filtered images were best related to the preference with the broadband face images when viewing the highest filtering band for the female faces (about 48-77 cycles per face). In contrast, for the male faces, the medium-low SF band (about 11-19 cpf) related best to choices made with the natural facial images. Eye tracking provided converging evidence for the above, gender-related, SF dissociations. We suggest greater aesthetic relevance of the mobile and communicative parts for the female face and, conversely, of the rigid, structural, parts for the male face for facial aesthetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morten Øvervoll
- Department of Psychology, University of Tromsø (The Arctic University of Norway), Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Hikaru Suzuki
- Department of Psychology, Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Matia Okubo
- Department of Psychology, Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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13
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Kihara K, Takeda Y. The Role of Low-Spatial Frequency Components in the Processing of Deceptive Faces: A Study Using Artificial Face Models. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1468. [PMID: 31297078 PMCID: PMC6607955 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Interpreting another's true emotion is important for social communication, even in the face of deceptive facial cues. Because spatial frequency components provide important clues for recognizing facial expressions, we investigated how we use spatial frequency information from deceptive faces to interpret true emotion. We conducted two different tasks: a face-generating experiment in which participants were asked to generate deceptive and genuine faces by tuning the intensity of happy and angry expressions (Experiment 1) and a face-classification task in which participants had to classify presented faces as either deceptive or genuine (Experiment 2). Low- and high-spatial frequency (LSF and HSF) components were varied independently. The results showed that deceptive happiness (i.e., anger is the hidden expression) involved different intensities for LSF and HSF. These results suggest that we can identify hidden anger by perceiving unbalanced intensities of emotional expression between LSF and HSF information contained in deceptive faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken Kihara
- Automotive Human Factors Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial, Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Yuji Takeda
- Automotive Human Factors Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial, Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
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14
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Prete G, Laeng B, Tommasi L. Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) over prefrontal cortex does not influence the evaluation of facial emotions. Soc Neurosci 2018; 14:676-680. [PMID: 30417751 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2018.1546226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Cerebral asymmetries for emotion processing are controversial, the right hemisphere being considered either superior in the recognition of all emotions, or superior in the recognition of negative emotions (together with the left-hemispheric superiority for positive emotions). In a number of previous studies, tDCS was applied on the left/right prefrontal cortex (PFC) in order to disentangle this issue, but the results remain controversial. We applied hf-tRNS/sham stimulation over the left/right PFC, during the presentation of neutral, angry and happy faces presented as broadband images (supraliminal condition), and as "hybrid" stimuli in which an emotional face in low spatial frequency is superimposed to the neutral expression of the same individual in high spatial frequency (subliminal condition), during a friendliness evaluation task. The results showed that angry and happy unfiltered stimuli were judged as the most unfriendly and friendly, respectively. Importantly, we found that hf-tRNS applied over the left/right PFC did not influence friendliness evaluations for emotional faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
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15
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Prete G, Tommasi L. Split-brain patients: Visual biases for faces. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2018; 238:271-291. [PMID: 30097195 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Split-brain patients constitute a small subpopulation of epileptic patients who have received the surgical resection of the callosal fibers in an attempt to reduce the spread of epileptic foci between the cerebral hemispheres. The study of callosotomy patients allowed neuropsychologists to investigate the effects of the hemispheric disconnection, shedding more light on the perceptual and cognitive abilities of each hemisphere in isolation. This view that callosotomy completely isolates the hemispheres has now been revised, in favor of the idea of a dynamic functional reorganization of the two sides of the brain; however, the evidence collected from split-brain patients is still a milestone in the neurosciences. The right-hemispheric superiority found in the healthy population concerning face perception has been further supported with split-brains, and it has been shown that the right disconnected hemisphere appears superior to the left hemisphere in recognizing and processing faces with similar characteristics as the observers' (e.g., gender, identity, etc.). Even more controversial is the field of hemispheric asymmetries for processing facial emotion, some evidence suggesting a right-hemispheric superiority for all emotions, some others showing a complementary hemispheric asymmetry depending on the positive or negative emotional valence. Although the practice of callosotomy is mostly abandoned today in favor of pharmacological alternatives, further studies on the remaining split-brain patients could help advance our understanding of hemispheric specialization for social stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti and Pescara, Chieti, Italy
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16
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The role of spatial frequency information in the decoding of facial expressions of pain: a novel hybrid task. Pain 2018; 158:2233-2242. [PMID: 28767508 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Spatial frequency (SF) information contributes to the recognition of facial expressions, including pain. Low-SF encodes facial configuration and structure and often dominates over high-SF information, which encodes fine details in facial features. This low-SF preference has not been investigated within the context of pain. In this study, we investigated whether perpetual preference differences exist for low-SF and high-SF pain information. A novel hybrid expression paradigm was used in which 2 different expressions, one containing low-SF information and the other high-SF information, were combined in a facial hybrid. Participants are instructed to identify the core expression contained within the hybrid, allowing for the measurement of SF information preference. Three experiments were conducted (46 participants in each) that varied the expressions within the hybrid faces: respectively pain-neutral, pain-fear, and pain-happiness. In order to measure the temporal aspects of image processing, each hybrid image was presented for 33, 67, 150, and 300 ms. As expected, identification of pain and other expressions was dominated by low-SF information across the 3 experiments. The low-SF preference was largest when the presentation of hybrid faces was brief and reduced as the presentation duration increased. A sex difference was also found in experiment 1. For women, the low-SF preference was dampened by high-SF pain information, when viewing low-SF neutral expressions. These results not only confirm the role that SF information has in the recognition of pain in facial expressions but suggests that in some situations, there may be sex differences in how pain is communicated.
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17
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Løseth GE, Eikemo M, Isager P, Holmgren J, Laeng B, Vindenes V, Hjørnevik T, Leknes S. Morphine reduced perceived anger from neutral and implicit emotional expressions. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2018; 91:123-131. [PMID: 29550675 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The μ-opioid system modulates responses to pain and psychosocial stress and mediates non-social and social reward. In humans, the μ-opioid agonist morphine can increase overt attention to the eye-region and visual exploration of faces with neutral expressions. However, little is known about how the human μ-opioid system influences sensitivity to and appraisal of subtle and explicit cues of social threats and reward. Here, we examined the effects of selective μ-opioid stimulation on perception of anger and happiness in faces with explicit, neutral or implicit emotion expressions. Sixty-three healthy adults (32 females) attended two sessions where they received either placebo or 10 mg per oral morphine in randomised order under double-blind conditions. Based on the known μ-opioid reduction of pain and discomfort, as well as reports suggesting that the non-specific partial agonist buprenorphine or the non-specific antagonist naltrexone affect appraisal of social emotional stimuli, we hypothesised that morphine would reduce threat sensitivity and enhance perception of happy facial expressions. While overall perception of others' happiness was unaffected by morphine treatment, morphine reduced perception of anger in stimuli with neutral and implicit expressions without affecting perception of explicit anger. This effect was statistically unrelated to gender, subjective drug effects, mood and autism trait measures. The finding that a low dose of μ-agonist reduced the propensity to perceive anger in photos with subtle facial expressions is consistent with the notion that μ-opioids mediate social confidence and reduce sensitivity to threat cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guro E Løseth
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
| | - Marie Eikemo
- Department of Diagnostic Physics, Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Norway; Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
| | - Peder Isager
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Vigdis Vindenes
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
| | - Trine Hjørnevik
- Department of Diagnostic Physics, Division of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
| | - Siri Leknes
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
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18
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Burt A, Hugrass L, Frith-Belvedere T, Crewther D. Insensitivity to Fearful Emotion for Early ERP Components in High Autistic Tendency Is Associated with Lower Magnocellular Efficiency. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:495. [PMID: 29075185 PMCID: PMC5643484 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Low spatial frequency (LSF) visual information is extracted rapidly from fearful faces, suggesting magnocellular involvement. Autistic phenotypes demonstrate altered magnocellular processing, which we propose contributes to a decreased P100 evoked response to LSF fearful faces. Here, we investigated whether rapid processing of fearful facial expressions differs for groups of neurotypical adults with low and high scores on the Autistic Spectrum Quotient (AQ). We created hybrid face stimuli with low and high spatial frequency filtered, fearful, and neutral expressions. Fearful faces produced higher amplitude P100 responses than neutral faces in the low AQ group, particularly when the hybrid face contained a LSF fearful expression. By contrast, there was no effect of fearful expression on P100 amplitude in the high AQ group. Consistent with evidence linking magnocellular differences with autistic personality traits, our non-linear VEP results showed that the high AQ group had higher amplitude K2.1 responses than the low AQ group, which is indicative of less efficient magnocellular recovery. Our results suggest that magnocellular LSF processing of a human face may be the initial visual cue used to rapidly and automatically detect fear, but that this cue functions atypically in those with high autistic tendency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adelaide Burt
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Laila Hugrass
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Tash Frith-Belvedere
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - David Crewther
- Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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19
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Burns EJ, Martin J, Chan AH, Xu H. Impaired processing of facial happiness, with or without awareness, in developmental prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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20
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Recognition memory for low- and high-frequency-filtered emotional faces: Low spatial frequencies drive emotional memory enhancement, whereas high spatial frequencies drive the emotion-induced recognition bias. Mem Cognit 2017; 45:699-715. [PMID: 28213830 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-017-0695-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This article deals with two well-documented phenomena regarding emotional stimuli: emotional memory enhancement-that is, better long-term memory for emotional than for neutral stimuli-and the emotion-induced recognition bias-that is, a more liberal response criterion for emotional than for neutral stimuli. Studies on visual emotion perception and attention suggest that emotion-related processes can be modulated by means of spatial-frequency filtering of the presented emotional stimuli. Specifically, low spatial frequencies are assumed to play a primary role for the influence of emotion on attention and judgment. Given this theoretical background, we investigated whether spatial-frequency filtering also impacts (1) the memory advantage for emotional faces and (2) the emotion-induced recognition bias, in a series of old/new recognition experiments. Participants completed incidental-learning tasks with high- (HSF) and low- (LSF) spatial-frequency-filtered emotional and neutral faces. The results of the surprise recognition tests showed a clear memory advantage for emotional stimuli. Most importantly, the emotional memory enhancement was significantly larger for face images containing only low-frequency information (LSF faces) than for HSF faces across all experiments, suggesting that LSF information plays a critical role in this effect, whereas the emotion-induced recognition bias was found only for HSF stimuli. We discuss our findings in terms of both the traditional account of different processing pathways for HSF and LSF information and a stimulus features account. The double dissociation in the results favors the latter account-that is, an explanation in terms of differences in the characteristics of HSF and LSF stimuli.
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21
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Prete G, Laeng B, Tommasi L. Modulating adaptation to emotional faces by spatial frequency filtering. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2016; 82:310-323. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-016-0830-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 11/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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22
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Folgerø PO, Hodne L, Johansson C, Andresen AE, Sætren LC, Specht K, Skaar ØO, Reber R. Effects of Facial Symmetry and Gaze Direction on Perception of Social Attributes: A Study in Experimental Art History. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:452. [PMID: 27679567 PMCID: PMC5020052 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Accepted: 08/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This article explores the possibility of testing hypotheses about art production in the past by collecting data in the present. We call this enterprise "experimental art history". Why did medieval artists prefer to paint Christ with his face directed towards the beholder, while profane faces were noticeably more often painted in different degrees of profile? Is a preference for frontal faces motivated by deeper evolutionary and biological considerations? Head and gaze direction is a significant factor for detecting the intentions of others, and accurate detection of gaze direction depends on strong contrast between a dark iris and a bright sclera, a combination that is only found in humans among the primates. One uniquely human capacity is language acquisition, where the detection of shared or joint attention, for example through detection of gaze direction, contributes significantly to the ease of acquisition. The perceived face and gaze direction is also related to fundamental emotional reactions such as fear, aggression, empathy and sympathy. The fast-track modulator model presents a related fast and unconscious subcortical route that involves many central brain areas. Activity in this pathway mediates the affective valence of the stimulus. In particular, different sub-regions of the amygdala show specific activation as response to gaze direction, head orientation and the valence of facial expression. We present three experiments on the effects of face orientation and gaze direction on the judgments of social attributes. We observed that frontal faces with direct gaze were more highly associated with positive adjectives. Does this help to associate positive values to the Holy Face in a Western context? The formal result indicates that the Holy Face is perceived more positively than profiles with both direct and averted gaze. Two control studies, using a Brazilian and a Dutch database of photographs, showed a similar but weaker effect with a larger contrast between the gaze directions for profiles. Our findings indicate that many factors affect the impression of a face, and that eye contact in combination with face direction reinforce the general impression of portraits, rather than determine it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Per O Folgerø
- Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen Bergen, Norway
| | - Lasse Hodne
- Department of Art and Media Studies, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU) Trondheim, Norway
| | - Christer Johansson
- Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen Bergen, Norway
| | - Alf E Andresen
- Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen Bergen, Norway
| | - Lill C Sætren
- Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen Bergen, Norway
| | - Karsten Specht
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen Bergen, Norway
| | | | - Rolf Reber
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo Oslo, Norway
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23
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Park G, Vasey MW, Kim G, Hu DD, Thayer JF. Trait Anxiety Is Associated with Negative Interpretations When Resolving Valence Ambiguity of Surprised Faces. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1164. [PMID: 27536266 PMCID: PMC4971431 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The current research examines whether trait anxiety is associated with negative interpretation bias when resolving valence ambiguity of surprised faces. To further isolate the neuro-cognitive mechanism, we presented angry, happy, and surprised faces at broad spatial frequency (BSF), high spatial frequency (HSF), and low spatial frequency (LSF) and asked participants to determine the valence of each face. High trait anxiety was associated with more negative interpretations of BSF (i.e., intact) surprised faces. However, the modulation of trait anxiety on the negative interpretation of surprised faces disappeared at HSF and LSF. The current study provides evidence that trait anxiety modulates negative interpretations of BSF surprised faces. However, the negative interpretation of LSF surprised faces appears to be a robust default response that occurs regardless of individual differences in trait anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gewnhi Park
- Department of Psychology, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa CA, USA
| | | | - Grace Kim
- Rosemead School of Psychology, La Mirada CA, USA
| | - Dixie D Hu
- The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA
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24
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Prete G, Capotosto P, Zappasodi F, Laeng B, Tommasi L. The cerebral correlates of subliminal emotions: an eleoencephalographic study with emotional hybrid faces. Eur J Neurosci 2015; 42:2952-62. [PMID: 26370468 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2014] [Revised: 09/07/2015] [Accepted: 09/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In a high-resolution electroencephalographic study, participants evaluated the friendliness level of upright and inverted 'hybrid faces', i.e. facial photos containing a subliminal emotional core in the low spatial frequencies (< 6 cycles/image), superimposed on a neutral expression in the rest of the spatial frequencies. Upright happy and angry faces were judged as more friendly or less friendly than neutral faces, respectively. We observed the time course of cerebral correlates of these stimuli with event-related potentials (ERPs), confirming that hybrid faces elicited the posterior emotion-related and face-related components (P1, N170 and P2), previously shown to be engaged by non-subliminal emotional stimuli. In addition, these components were stronger in the right hemisphere and were both enhanced and delayed by face inversion. A frontal positivity (210-300 ms) was stronger for emotional than for neutral faces, and for upright than for inverted faces. Hence, hybrid faces represent an original approach in the study of subliminal emotions, which appears promising for investigating their electrophysiological correlates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Blocco A, Via dei Vestini 31, I-66013, Chieti, Italy
| | - Paolo Capotosto
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Blocco A, Via dei Vestini 31, I-66013, Chieti, Italy.,Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Filippo Zappasodi
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Blocco A, Via dei Vestini 31, I-66013, Chieti, Italy.,Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological Science, Health and Territory, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
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25
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Prete G, Laeng B, Fabri M, Foschi N, Tommasi L. Right hemisphere or valence hypothesis, or both? The processing of hybrid faces in the intact and callosotomized brain. Neuropsychologia 2015; 68:94-106. [PMID: 25575451 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2014] [Revised: 12/20/2014] [Accepted: 01/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The valence hypothesis and the right hemisphere hypothesis in emotion processing have been alternatively supported. To better disentangle the two accounts, we carried out two studies, presenting healthy participants and an anterior callosotomized patient with 'hybrid faces', stimuli created by superimposing the low spatial frequencies of an emotional face to the high spatial frequencies of the same face in a neutral expression. In both studies we asked participants to judge the friendliness level of stimuli, which is an indirect measure of the processing of emotional information, despite this remaining "invisible". In Experiment 1 we presented hybrid faces in a divided visual field paradigm using different tachistoscopic presentation times; in Experiment 2 we presented hybrid chimeric faces in canonical view and upside-down. In Experiments 3 and 4 we tested a callosotomized patient, with spared splenium, in similar paradigms as those used in Experiments 1 and 2. Results from Experiments 1 and 3 were consistent with the valence hypothesis, whereas results of Experiments 2 and 4 were consistent with the right hemisphere hypothesis. This study confirms that the low spatial frequencies of emotional faces influence the social judgments of observers, even when seen for 28 ms (Experiment 1), possibly by means of configural analysis (Experiment 2). The possible roles of the cortical and subcortical emotional routes in these tasks are discussed in the light of the results obtained in the callosotomized patient. We propose that the right hemisphere and the valence accounts are not mutually exclusive, at least in the case of subliminal emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
| | - Mara Fabri
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Neuroscience and Cell Biology Section, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy
| | - Nicoletta Foschi
- Regional Epilepsy Centre, Neurological Clinic, "Ospedali Riuniti", Ancona, Italy
| | - Luca Tommasi
- Department of Psychological Science, Humanities and Territory, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
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26
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Rohr M, Wentura D. Spatial frequency filtered images reveal differences between masked and unmasked processing of emotional information. Conscious Cogn 2014; 29:141-58. [PMID: 25286124 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.08.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2014] [Revised: 08/26/2014] [Accepted: 08/27/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
High and low spatial frequency information has been shown to contribute differently to the processing of emotional information. In three priming studies using spatial frequency filtered emotional face primes, emotional face targets, and an emotion categorization task, we investigated this issue further. Differences in the pattern of results between short and masked, and short and long unmasked presentation conditions emerged. Given long and unmasked prime presentation, high and low frequency primes triggered emotion-specific priming effects. Given brief and masked prime presentation in Experiment 2, we found a dissociation: High frequency primes caused a valence priming effect, whereas low frequency primes yielded a differentiation between low and high arousing information within the negative domain. Brief and unmasked prime presentation in Experiment 3 revealed that subliminal processing of primes was responsible for the pattern observed in Experiment 2. The implications of these findings for theories of early emotional information processing are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaela Rohr
- Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany.
| | - Dirk Wentura
- Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany
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27
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Ellingsen DM, Wessberg J, Chelnokova O, Olausson H, Laeng B, Leknes S. In touch with your emotions: oxytocin and touch change social impressions while others' facial expressions can alter touch. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2014; 39:11-20. [PMID: 24275000 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.09.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2013] [Revised: 09/13/2013] [Accepted: 09/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Interpersonal touch is frequently used for communicating emotions, strengthen social bonds and to give others pleasure. The neuropeptide oxytocin increases social interest, improves recognition of others' emotions, and it is released during touch. Here, we investigated how oxytocin and gentle human touch affect social impressions of others, and vice versa, how others' facial expressions and oxytocin affect touch experience. In a placebo-controlled crossover study using intranasal oxytocin, 40 healthy volunteers viewed faces with different facial expressions along with concomitant gentle human touch or control machine touch, while pupil diameter was monitored. After each stimulus pair, participants rated the perceived friendliness and attractiveness of the faces, perceived facial expression, or pleasantness and intensity of the touch. After intranasal oxytocin treatment, gentle human touch had a sharpening effect on social evaluations of others relative to machine touch, such that frowning faces were rated as less friendly and attractive, whereas smiling faces were rated as more friendly and attractive. Conversely, smiling faces increased, whereas frowning faces reduced, pleasantness of concomitant touch - the latter effect being stronger for human touch. Oxytocin did not alter touch pleasantness. Pupillary responses, a measure of attentional allocation, were larger to human touch than to equally intense machine touch, especially when paired with a smiling face. Overall, our results point to mechanisms important for human affiliation and social bond formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan-Mikael Ellingsen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, S-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
| | - Johan Wessberg
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, S-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Olga Chelnokova
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway
| | - Håkan Olausson
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, S-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway
| | - Siri Leknes
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, S-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway
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28
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Prete G, Laeng B, Tommasi L. Lateralized hybrid faces: evidence of a valence-specific bias in the processing of implicit emotions. Laterality 2013; 19:439-54. [PMID: 24345101 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2013.862255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that hemispheric asymmetries exist for both the analyses of low-level visual information (such as spatial frequency) and high-level visual information (such as emotional expressions). In this study, we assessed which of the above factors underlies perceptual laterality effects with "hybrid faces": a type of stimulus that allows testing for unaware processing of emotional expressions, when the emotion is displayed in the low-frequency information while an image of the same face with a neutral expression is superimposed to it. Despite hybrid faces being perceived as neutral, the emotional information modulates observers' social judgements. In the present study, participants were asked to assess friendliness of hybrid faces displayed tachistoscopically, either centrally or laterally to fixation. We found a clear influence of the hidden emotions also with lateral presentations. Happy faces were rated as more friendly and angry faces as less friendly with respect to neutral faces. In general, hybrid faces were evaluated as less friendly when they were presented in the left visual field/right hemisphere than in the right visual field/left hemisphere. The results extend the validity of the valence hypothesis in the specific domain of unaware (subcortical) emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- a Department of Neuroscience and Imaging , 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara , Chieti , Italy
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29
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Prete G, D'Ascenzo S, Laeng B, Fabri M, Foschi N, Tommasi L. Conscious and unconscious processing of facial expressions: evidence from two split-brain patients. J Neuropsychol 2013; 9:45-63. [PMID: 24325712 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Revised: 10/15/2013] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
We investigated how the brain's hemispheres process explicit and implicit facial expressions in two 'split-brain' patients (one with a complete and one with a partial anterior resection). Photographs of faces expressing positive, negative or neutral emotions were shown either centrally or bilaterally. The task consisted in judging the friendliness of each person in the photographs. Half of the photograph stimuli were 'hybrid faces', that is an amalgamation of filtered images which contained emotional information only in the low range of spatial frequency, blended to a neutral expression of the same individual in the rest of the spatial frequencies. The other half of the images contained unfiltered faces. With the hybrid faces the patients and a matched control group were more influenced in their social judgements by the emotional expression of the face shown in the left visual field (LVF). When the expressions were shown explicitly, that is without filtering, the control group and the partially callosotomized patient based their judgement on the face shown in the LVF, whereas the complete split-brain patient based his ratings mainly on the face presented in the right visual field. We conclude that the processing of implicit emotions does not require the integrity of callosal fibres and can take place within subcortical routes lateralized in the right hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Prete
- Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, 'G. d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
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30
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Laeng B, Vermeer O, Sulutvedt U. Is beauty in the face of the beholder? PLoS One 2013; 8:e68395. [PMID: 23874608 PMCID: PMC3707967 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2013] [Accepted: 05/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Opposing forces influence assortative mating so that one seeks a similar mate while at the same time avoiding inbreeding with close relatives. Thus, mate choice may be a balancing of phenotypic similarity and dissimilarity between partners. In the present study, we assessed the role of resemblance to Self's facial traits in judgments of physical attractiveness. Participants chose the most attractive face image of their romantic partner among several variants, where the faces were morphed so as to include only 22% of another face. Participants distinctly preferred a "Self-based morph" (i.e., their partner's face with a small amount of Self's face blended into it) to other morphed images. The Self-based morph was also preferred to the morph of their partner's face blended with the partner's same-sex "prototype", although the latter face was ("objectively") judged more attractive by other individuals. When ranking morphs differing in level of amalgamation (i.e., 11% vs. 22% vs. 33%) of another face, the 22% was chosen consistently as the preferred morph and, in particular, when Self was blended in the partner's face. A forced-choice signal-detection paradigm showed that the effect of self-resemblance operated at an unconscious level, since the same participants were unable to detect the presence of their own faces in the above morphs. We concluded that individuals, if given the opportunity, seek to promote "positive assortment" for Self's phenotype, especially when the level of similarity approaches an optimal point that is similar to Self without causing a conscious acknowledgment of the similarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Oddrun Vermeer
- Department of Psychology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Unni Sulutvedt
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Laeng B, Sæther L, Holmlund T, Wang CEA, Waterloo K, Eisemann M, Halvorsen M. Invisible emotional expressions influence social judgments and pupillary responses of both depressed and non-depressed individuals. Front Psychol 2013; 4:291. [PMID: 23734141 PMCID: PMC3660658 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2013] [Accepted: 05/06/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We used filtered low spatial frequency images of facial emotional expressions (angry, fearful, happy, sad, or neutral faces) that were blended with a high-frequency image of the same face but with a neutral facial expression, so as to obtain a “hybrid” face image that “masked” the subjective perception of its emotional expression. Participants were categorized in three groups of participants: healthy control participants (N = 49), recovered previously depressed (N = 79), and currently depressed individuals (N = 36), All participants were asked to rate how friendly the person in the picture looked. Simultaneously we recorded, by use of an infrared eye-tracker, their pupillary responses. We expected that depressed individuals (either currently or previously depressed) would show a negative bias and therefore rate the negative emotional faces, albeit the emotions being invisible, as more negative (i.e., less friendly) than the healthy controls would. Similarly, we expected that depressed individuals would overreact to the negative emotions and that this would result in greater dilations of the pupil's diameter than those shown by controls for the same emotions. Although we observed the expected pattern of effects of the hidden emotions on both ratings and pupillary changes, both responses did not differ significantly among the three groups of participants. The implications of this finding are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo Oslo, Norway
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Leknes S, Wessberg J, Ellingsen DM, Chelnokova O, Olausson H, Laeng B. Oxytocin enhances pupil dilation and sensitivity to 'hidden' emotional expressions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2012; 8:741-9. [PMID: 22648957 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nss062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensing others' emotions through subtle facial expressions is a highly important social skill. We investigated the effects of intranasal oxytocin treatment on the evaluation of explicit and 'hidden' emotional expressions and related the results to individual differences in sensitivity to others' subtle expressions of anger and happiness. Forty healthy volunteers participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, which shows that a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (40 IU) enhanced or 'sharpened' evaluative processing of others' positive and negative facial expression for both explicit and hidden emotional information. Our results point to mechanisms that could underpin oxytocin's prosocial effects in humans. Importantly, individual differences in baseline emotional sensitivity predicted oxytocin's effects on the ability to sense differences between faces with hidden emotional information. Participants with low emotional sensitivity showed greater oxytocin-induced improvement. These participants also showed larger task-related pupil dilation, suggesting that they also allocated the most attentional resources to the task. Overall, oxytocin treatment enhanced stimulus-induced pupil dilation, consistent with oxytocin enhancement of attention towards socially relevant stimuli. Since pupil dilation can be associated with increased attractiveness and approach behaviour, this effect could also represent a mechanism by which oxytocin increases human affiliation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siri Leknes
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Postboks 1094, Blindern 0317, Oslo, Norway.
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Fischer AH, Gillebaart M, Rotteveel M, Becker D, Vliek M. Veiled Emotions. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2011. [DOI: 10.1177/1948550611418534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The present study explores the relative absence of expressive cues and the effect of contextual cues on the perception of emotions and its effect on attitudes. The visibility of expressive cues was manipulated by showing films displaying female targets whose faces were either fully visible, covered by a niqab, or partially visible (control condition). Targets expressed anger, shame, and happiness in the three different face conditions. Results show that perception of emotions is mainly affected by an absence of expressive cues: Covering the lower part of the face results in the perception of less happiness in happy videos and of more intense negative emotions in both happy and shame videos. This bias toward the perception of more negative emotions in covered faces mediates a negative attitude toward niqabs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agneta H. Fischer
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Marleen Gillebaart
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Mark Rotteveel
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Daniela Becker
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Michael Vliek
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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