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Zhao D, Shen X, Li S, He W. The Impact of Spatial Frequency on the Perception of Crowd Emotion: An fMRI Study. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1699. [PMID: 38137147 PMCID: PMC10742193 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13121699] [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] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Recognizing the emotions of faces in a crowd is crucial for understanding overall behavior and intention as well as for smooth and friendly social interactions. However, it is unclear whether the spatial frequency of faces affects the discrimination of crowd emotion. Although high- and low-spatial-frequency information for individual faces is processed by distinct neural channels, there is a lack of evidence on how this applies to crowd faces. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural representations of crowd faces at different spatial frequencies. Thirty-three participants were asked to compare whether a test face was happy or more fearful than a crowd face that varied in high, low, and broad spatial frequencies. Our findings revealed that fearful faces with low spatial frequencies were easier to recognize in terms of accuracy (78.9%) and response time (927 ms). Brain regions, such as the fusiform gyrus, located in the ventral visual stream, were preferentially activated in high spatial frequency crowds, which, however, were the most difficult to recognize behaviorally (68.9%). Finally, the right inferior frontal gyrus was found to be better activated in the broad spatial frequency crowds. Our study suggests that people are more sensitive to fearful crowd faces with low spatial frequency and that high spatial frequency does not promote crowd face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongfang Zhao
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; (D.Z.); (X.S.); (S.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Xiangnan Shen
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; (D.Z.); (X.S.); (S.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Shuaixia Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; (D.Z.); (X.S.); (S.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; (D.Z.); (X.S.); (S.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian 116029, China
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2
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Entzmann L, Guyader N, Kauffmann L, Peyrin C, Mermillod M. Detection of emotional faces: The role of spatial frequencies and local features. Vision Res 2023; 211:108281. [PMID: 37421829 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 06/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
Models of emotion processing suggest that threat-related stimuli such as fearful faces can be detected based on the rapid extraction of low spatial frequencies. However, this remains debated as other models argue that the decoding of facial expressions occurs with a more flexible use of spatial frequencies. The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of spatial frequencies and differences in luminance contrast between spatial frequencies, on the detection of facial emotions. We used a saccadic choice task in which emotional-neutral face pairs were presented and participants were asked to make a saccade toward the neutral or the emotional (happy or fearful) face. Faces were displayed either in low, high, or broad spatial frequencies. Results showed that participants were better to saccade toward the emotional face. They were also better for high or broad than low spatial frequencies, and the accuracy was higher with a happy target. An analysis of the eye and mouth saliency ofour stimuli revealed that the mouth saliency of the target correlates with participants' performance. Overall, this study underlines the importance of local more than global information, and of the saliency of the mouth region in the detection of emotional and neutral faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léa Entzmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France; Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000 Grenoble, France; Icelandic Vision Lab, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
| | - Nathalie Guyader
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Louise Kauffmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Carole Peyrin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Martial Mermillod
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
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3
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Entzmann L, Guyader N, Kauffmann L, Lenouvel J, Charles C, Peyrin C, Vuillaume R, Mermillod M. The Role of Emotional Content and Perceptual Saliency During the Programming of Saccades Toward Faces. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e13042. [PMID: 34606110 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the human visual system can detect a face and elicit a saccadic eye movement toward it very efficiently compared to other categories of visual stimuli. In the first experiment, we tested the influence of facial expressions on fast face detection using a saccadic choice task. Face-vehicle pairs were simultaneously presented and participants were asked to saccade toward the target (the face or the vehicle). We observed that saccades toward faces were initiated faster, and more often in the correct direction, than saccades toward vehicles, regardless of the facial expressions (happy, fearful, or neutral). We also observed that saccade endpoints on face images were lower when the face was happy and higher when it was neutral. In the second experiment, we explicitly tested the detection of facial expressions. We used a saccadic choice task with emotional-neutral pairs of faces and participants were asked to saccade toward the emotional (happy or fearful) or the neutral face. Participants were faster when they were asked to saccade toward the emotional face. They also made fewer errors, especially when the emotional face was happy. Using computational modeling, we showed that this happy face advantage can, at least partly, be explained by perceptual factors. Also, saccade endpoints were lower when the target was happy than when it was fearful. Overall, we suggest that there is no automatic prioritization of emotional faces, at least for saccades with short latencies, but that salient local face features can automatically attract attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léa Entzmann
- LPNC, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc.,GIPSA-lab, Université Grenoble Alpes CNRS Grenoble INP
| | | | - Louise Kauffmann
- LPNC, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc
| | | | - Clémence Charles
- LPNC, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc
| | - Carole Peyrin
- LPNC, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc
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4
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The Modulation of Cardiac Vagal Tone on Attentional Orienting of Fair-Related Faces: Low HRV is Associated with Faster Attentional Engagement to Fair-Relevant Stimuli. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 22:229-243. [PMID: 34580840 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00954-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The current experiment examined the effect of fair-related stimuli on attentional orienting and the role of cardiac vagal tone indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). Neutral faces were associated with fair and unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game (UG). After the UG, participants performed the spatial cueing task in which targets were preceded by face cues that made fair or unfair offers in the UG. Participants showed faster attentional engagement to fair-related stimuli, which was more pronounced in individuals with lower resting HRV-indexing reduced cardiac vagal tone. Also, people showed delayed attentional disengagement from fair-related stimuli, which was not correlated with HRV. The current research provided initial evidence that fair-related social information influences spatial attention, which is associated with cardiac vagal tone. These results provide further evidence that the difficulty in attentional control associated with reduced cardiac vagal tone may extend to a broader social and moral context.
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5
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Yu ANC, Iodice P, Pezzulo G, Barca L. Bodily Information and Top-Down Affective Priming Jointly Affect the Processing of Fearful Faces. Front Psychol 2021; 12:625986. [PMID: 34149514 PMCID: PMC8206275 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.625986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
According to embodied theories, the processing of emotions such as happiness or fear is grounded in emotion-specific perceptual, bodily, and physiological processes. Under these views, perceiving an emotional stimulus (e.g., a fearful face) re-enacts interoceptive and bodily states congruent with that emotion (e.g., increases heart rate); and in turn, interoceptive and bodily changes (e.g., increases of heart rate) influence the processing of congruent emotional content. A previous study by Pezzulo et al. (2018) provided evidence for this embodied congruence, reporting that experimentally increasing heart rate with physical exercise facilitated the processing of facial expressions congruent with that interoception (fear), but not those conveying incongruent states (disgust or neutrality). Here, we investigated whether the above (bottom-up) interoceptive manipulation and the (top-down) priming of affective content may jointly influence the processing of happy and fearful faces. The fact that happiness and fear are both associated with high heart rate but have different (positive and negative) valence permits testing the hypothesis that their processing might be facilitated by the same interoceptive manipulation (the increase of heart rate) but two opposite (positive and negative) affective primes. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to perform a gender-categorization task of happy, fearful, and neutral faces, which were preceded by positive, negative, and neutral primes. Participants performed the same task in two sessions (after rest, with normal heart rate, or exercise, with faster heart rate) and we recorded their response times and mouse movements during the choices. We replicated the finding that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster than when they were in the rest condition. However, we did not find the same reduction in response time for happy (or neutral) faces. Furthermore, we found that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster in the presence of negative compared to positive or neutral primes; but we found no equivalent facilitation of positive (or neutral) primes during the processing of happy (or neutral) faces. While the asymmetries between the processing of fearful and happy faces require further investigation, our findings promisingly indicate that the processing of fearful faces is jointly influenced by both bottom-up interoceptive states and top-down affective primes that are congruent with the emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Nicoletta Cruz Yu
- Department of Psychological Science, Pomona College, Lincoln Hall, Claremont, CA, United States.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Pierpaolo Iodice
- Centre d'Etude des Transformations des Activités Physiques et Sportives (CETAPS), EA 3832, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Rouen, Mont Saint Aignan, France
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Laura Barca
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
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6
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Trujillo N, Gómez D, Trujillo S, López JD, Ibáñez A, Parra MA. Attentional bias during emotional processing: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence from an Emotional Flanker Task. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249407. [PMID: 33798215 PMCID: PMC8018632 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Threatening stimuli seem to capture attention more swiftly than neutral stimuli. This attention bias has been observed under different experimental conditions and with different types of stimuli. It remains unclear whether this adaptive behaviour reflects the function of automatic or controlled attention mechanisms. Additionally, the spatiotemporal dynamics of its neural correlates are largely unknown. The present study investigates these issues using an Emotional Flanker Task synchronized with EEG recordings. A group of 32 healthy participants saw response-relevant images (emotional scenes from IAPS or line drawings of objects) flanked by response-irrelevant distracters (i.e., emotional scenes flanked by line drawings or vice versa). We assessed behavioural and ERP responses drawn from four task conditions (Threat-Central, Neutral-Central, Threat-Peripheral, and Neutral-Peripheral) and subjected these responses to repeated-measures ANOVA models. When presented as response-relevant targets, threatening images attracted faster and more accurate responses. They did not affect response accuracy to targets when presented as response-irrelevant flankers. However, response times were significantly slower when threatening images flanked objects than when neutral images were shown as flankers. This result replicated the well-known Emotional Flanker Effect. Behavioural responses to response-relevant threatening targets were accompanied by significant modulations of ERP activity across all time-windows and regions of interest and displayed some meaningful correlations. The Emotional Flanker Effect was accompanied by a modulation over parietal and central-parietal regions within a time-window between 550-690ms. Such a modulation suggests that the attentional disruption to targets caused by response-irrelevant threatening flankers appears to reflect less neural resources available, which are seemingly drawn away by distracting threatening flankers. The observed spatiotemporal dynamics seem to concur with understanding of the important adaptive role attributed to threat-related attention bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Trujillo
- Neuroscience Group, University of Antioquia UdeA, Medellín, Colombia
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Diana Gómez
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
- SISTEMIC, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Sandra Trujillo
- Neuroscience Group, University of Antioquia UdeA, Medellín, Colombia
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
| | - José David López
- SISTEMIC, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Agustín Ibáñez
- Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Latin American Institute for Brain Health (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mario A. Parra
- Neuroscience Group, University of Antioquia UdeA, Medellín, Colombia
- School of Psychological Sciences & Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia
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7
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Deployment dynamics of hypnotic anger modulation. Conscious Cogn 2021; 91:103118. [PMID: 33770703 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
To understand the role that attention plays in the deployment timeline of hypnotic anger modulation, we composed an Attentional Blink paradigm where the first and second targets were faces, expressing neutral or angry emotions. We then suppressed the salience of angry faces through a "hypnotic numbing" suggestion. We found that hypnotic suggestion only attenuated the emotional salience of the second target (T2). By implementing drift-diffusion decision modelling, we also found that hypnotic suggestion mainly affected decision thresholds. These findings suggest that hypnotic numbing resulted from belated changes in response strategy. Interestingly, a contrast against non-hypnotized participants revealed that the numbing suggestion had the instruction-like feature of incorporating emotional valence into the attentional task-set. Together, our results portray hypnotic anger modulation as a two-tiered process: first, hypnotic suggestion alters the attentional task-set; second, provided processing and response preparation are not interrupted, a hypnotizability-dependent response based on said altered task-set is produced through late cognitive control strategies.
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8
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Wagner MF, Skowronski JJ, Milner JS, Crouch JL, Ammar J. Exploring Positive Classical Conditioning Procedure Effects on Evaluations of Children, Thoughts About Children, and Behaviors Toward Children: Two Experiments. Psychol Rep 2019; 123:1753-1784. [PMID: 31856643 DOI: 10.1177/0033294119894231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Exposing parents to a positive classical conditioning (+CC) procedure can (a) prompt positive evaluations of children, (b) alter judgments made about children from their behavior, and (c) reduce harsh behaviors enacted toward children. Two studies explored possible limits of these effects. Results from Study 1 showed that only some +CC effects evinced in prior research emerged when the positive trait words used as the unconditioned stimuli in prior research were replaced with positive emojis. Results from Study 2 showed with positive trait word stimuli that a backward +CC procedure produced many of the same effects produced by the forward +CC procedure. These results collectively support the idea that +CC procedures may simultaneously prompt several different kinds of learning. From a practical perspective, consideration of these various kinds of learning is important to an understanding of when the use of the +CC procedure might reduce child abuse risk.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Joe Ammar
- Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL, USA
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9
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Vermeulen N, Pleyers G, Mermillod M, Corneille O, Schaefer A. Desperately seeking friends: How expectation of punishment modulates attention to angry and happy faces. VISUAL COGNITION 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2019.1676351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Vermeulen
- Psychological Science Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium
| | - Gordy Pleyers
- Louvain School of Management, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | | | - Olivier Corneille
- Psychological Science Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Alexandre Schaefer
- Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
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10
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The importance of recurrent top-down synaptic connections for the anticipation of dynamic emotions. Neural Netw 2018; 109:19-30. [PMID: 30388430 DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2018.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2018] [Revised: 09/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Different studies have shown the efficiency of a feed-forward neural network in categorizing basic emotional facial expressions. However, recent findings in psychology and cognitive neuroscience suggest that visual recognition is not a pure bottom-up process but likely involves top-down recurrent connectivity. In the present computational study, we compared the performances of a pure bottom-up neural network (a standard multi-layer perceptron, MLP) with a neural network involving recurrent top-down connections (a simple recurrent network, SRN) in the anticipation of emotional expressions. In two complementary simulations, results revealed that the SRN outperformed the MLP for ambiguous intensities in the temporal sequence, when the emotions were not fully depicted but when sufficient contextual information (related to previous time frames) was provided. Taken together, these results suggest that, despite the cost of recurrent connections in terms of energy and processing time for biological organisms, they can provide a substantial advantage for the fast recognition of uncertain visual signals.
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11
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Tian J, Wang J, Xia T, Zhao W, Xu Q, He W. The influence of spatial frequency content on facial expression processing: An ERP study using rapid serial visual presentation. Sci Rep 2018; 8:2383. [PMID: 29403062 PMCID: PMC5799249 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20467-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2017] [Accepted: 01/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial frequency (SF) contents have been shown to play an important role in emotion perception. This study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the time course of neural dynamics involved in the processing of facial expression conveying specific SF information. Participants completed a dual-target rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task, in which SF-filtered happy, fearful, and neutral faces were presented. The face-sensitive N170 component distinguished emotional (happy and fearful) faces from neutral faces in a low spatial frequency (LSF) condition, while only happy faces were distinguished from neutral faces in a high spatial frequency (HSF) condition. The later P3 component differentiated between the three types of emotional faces in both LSF and HSF conditions. Furthermore, LSF information elicited larger P1 amplitudes than did HSF information, while HSF information elicited larger N170 and P3 amplitudes than did LSF information. Taken together, these results suggest that emotion perception is selectively tuned to distinctive SF contents at different temporal processing stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinhua Tian
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Jian Wang
- School of Public Policy and Management, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230061, China
| | - Tao Xia
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Wenshuang Zhao
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Qianru Xu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China.
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12
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Pezzulo G, Iodice P, Barca L, Chausse P, Monceau S, Mermillod M. Increased heart rate after exercise facilitates the processing of fearful but not disgusted faces. Sci Rep 2018; 8:398. [PMID: 29321533 PMCID: PMC5762722 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18761-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Embodied theories of emotion assume that emotional processing is grounded in bodily and affective processes. Accordingly, the perception of an emotion re-enacts congruent sensory and affective states; and conversely, bodily states congruent with a specific emotion facilitate emotional processing. This study tests whether the ability to process facial expressions (faces having a neutral expression, expressing fear, or disgust) can be influenced by making the participants’ body state congruent with the expressed emotion (e.g., high heart rate in the case of faces expressing fear). We designed a task requiring participants to categorize pictures of male and female faces that either had a neutral expression (neutral), or expressed emotions whose linkage with high heart rate is strong (fear) or significantly weaker or absent (disgust). Critically, participants were tested in two conditions: with experimentally induced high heart rate (Exercise) and with normal heart rate (Normal). Participants processed fearful faces (but not disgusted or neutral faces) faster when they were in the Exercise condition than in the Normal condition. These results support the idea that an emotionally congruent body state facilitates the automatic processing of emotionally-charged stimuli and this effect is emotion-specific rather than due to generic factors such as arousal.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - P Iodice
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - L Barca
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via S. Martino della Battaglia, 44, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - P Chausse
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - S Monceau
- Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LAPSCO, F-63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - M Mermillod
- Université Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, F-38040, Grenoble & CNRS, LPNC UMR 5105, F-38040, Grenoble, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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13
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Szczepanowski R, Wierzchoń M, Szulżycki M. Neuronal Network and Awareness Measures of Post-Decision Wagering Behavior in Detecting Masked Emotional Faces. Cognit Comput 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s12559-017-9456-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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14
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Weisgerber A, Vermeulen N, Peretz I, Samson S, Philippot P, Maurage P, De Graeuwe D'Aoust C, De Jaegere A, Delatte B, Gillain B, De Longueville X, Constant E. Facial, vocal and musical emotion recognition is altered in paranoid schizophrenic patients. Psychiatry Res 2015. [PMID: 26210647 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Disturbed processing of emotional faces and voices is typically observed in schizophrenia. This deficit leads to impaired social cognition and interactions. In this study, we investigated whether impaired processing of emotions also affects musical stimuli, which are widely present in daily life and known for their emotional impact. Thirty schizophrenic patients and 30 matched healthy controls evaluated the emotional content of musical, vocal and facial stimuli. Schizophrenic patients are less accurate than healthy controls in recognizing emotion in music, voices and faces. Our results confirm impaired recognition of emotion in voice and face stimuli in schizophrenic patients and extend this observation to the recognition of emotion in musical stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Weisgerber
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; National Research Fund (FNR), Luxembourg.
| | - Nicolas Vermeulen
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS), Belgium
| | - Isabelle Peretz
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound research (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Canada
| | - Séverine Samson
- Neuropsychology and Auditory Cognition, University Lille-Nord de France, France
| | - Pierre Philippot
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Pierre Maurage
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS), Belgium
| | - Catherine De Graeuwe D'Aoust
- Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Aline De Jaegere
- Department of Adult Psychiatry, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Institute of Neurosciences (IoNS), 1200 Brussels, Belgium
| | | | | | | | - Eric Constant
- Department of Adult Psychiatry, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Institute of Neurosciences (IoNS), 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
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15
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Park HB, Han JE, Hyun JS. You may look unhappy unless you smile: the distinctiveness of a smiling face against faces without an explicit smile. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 157:185-94. [PMID: 25819385 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2014] [Revised: 02/17/2015] [Accepted: 03/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
An expressionless face is often perceived as rude whereas a smiling face is considered as hospitable. Repetitive exposure to such perceptions may have developed stereotype of categorizing an expressionless face as expressing negative emotion. To test this idea, we displayed a search array where the target was an expressionless face and the distractors were either smiling or frowning faces. We manipulated set size. Search reaction times were delayed with frowning distractors. Delays became more evident as the set size increased. We also devised a short-term comparison task where participants compared two sequential sets of expressionless, smiling, and frowning faces. Detection of an expression change across the sets was highly inaccurate when the change was made between frowning and expressionless face. These results indicate that subjects were confused with expressed emotions on frowning and expressionless faces, suggesting that it is difficult to distinguish expressionless face from frowning faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyung-Bum Park
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ji-Eun Han
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Joo-Seok Hyun
- Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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Villepoux A, Vermeulen N, Niedenthal P, Mermillod M. Evidence of fast and automatic gender bias in affective priming. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2014.1000919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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17
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Shasteen JR, Sasson NJ, Pinkham AE. Eye tracking the face in the crowd task: why are angry faces found more quickly? PLoS One 2014; 9:e93914. [PMID: 24699880 PMCID: PMC3974862 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2013] [Accepted: 03/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Among a crowd of distractor faces, threatening or angry target faces are identified more quickly and accurately than are nonthreatening or happy target faces, a finding known as the “face in the crowd effect.” Two perceptual explanations of the effect have been proposed: (1) the “target orienting” hypothesis (i.e., threatening targets orient attention more quickly than do nonthreatening targets and (2) the “distractor processing” hypothesis (i.e., nonthreatening distractors paired with a threatening target are processed more efficiently than vice versa, leading to quicker detection of threatening targets). Using a task, with real faces and multiple identities, the current study replicated the face in the crowd effect and then, via eye tracking, found greater support for the target orienting hypothesis. Across both the classical search asymmetry paradigm (i.e., one happy target in a crowd of angry distractors vs. one angry target in a crowd of happy distractors) and the constant distractor paradigm (i.e., one happy target in a crowd of neutral distractors vs. one angry target in a crowd of neutral distractors), fewer distractors were fixated before first fixating angry targets relative to happy targets, with no difference in the processing efficiency of distractors. These results suggest that the face in the crowd effect on this task is supported to a greater degree by attentional patterns associated with properties of target rather those of the crowd.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathon R. Shasteen
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
| | - Noah J. Sasson
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Amy E. Pinkham
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
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Fradcourt B, Peyrin C, Baciu M, Campagne A. Behavioral assessment of emotional and motivational appraisal during visual processing of emotional scenes depending on spatial frequencies. Brain Cogn 2013; 83:104-13. [PMID: 23954668 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2012] [Revised: 07/04/2013] [Accepted: 07/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies performed on visual processing of emotional stimuli have revealed preference for a specific type of visual spatial frequencies (high spatial frequency, HSF; low spatial frequency, LSF) according to task demands. The majority of studies used a face and focused on the appraisal of the emotional state of others. The present behavioral study investigates the relative role of spatial frequencies on processing emotional natural scenes during two explicit cognitive appraisal tasks, one emotional, based on the self-emotional experience and one motivational, based on the tendency to action. Our results suggest that HSF information was the most relevant to rapidly identify the self-emotional experience (unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral) while LSF was required to rapidly identify the tendency to action (avoidance, approach, and no action). The tendency to action based on LSF analysis showed a priority for unpleasant stimuli whereas the identification of emotional experience based on HSF analysis showed a priority for pleasant stimuli. The present study confirms the interest of considering both emotional and motivational characteristics of visual stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Fradcourt
- Université de Grenoble Alpes, Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, F-38040 Grenoble, France
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19
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Mermillod M, Bugaiska A, Bonin P. The stability-plasticity dilemma: investigating the continuum from catastrophic forgetting to age-limited learning effects. Front Psychol 2013; 4:504. [PMID: 23935590 PMCID: PMC3732997 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2013] [Accepted: 07/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Martial Mermillod
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LPNC UMR 5105, Université Grenoble Alpes Grenoble, France ; Institut Universitaire de France Paris, France
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20
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Jackson MC, Linden DEJ, Raymond JE. Angry expressions strengthen the encoding and maintenance of face identity representations in visual working memory. Cogn Emot 2013; 28:278-97. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.816655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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21
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Mermillod M, Vermeulen N, Kaminski G, Gentaz E, Bonin P. The importance of feature distribution and correlation for simulating 3 to 4-month-old infants' visual categorization processes. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.819825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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22
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Pérez-Dueñas C, Acosta A, Lupiáñez J. Reduced habituation to angry faces: increased attentional capture as to override inhibition of return. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2013; 78:196-208. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-013-0493-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2013] [Accepted: 05/03/2013] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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23
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Mermillod M, Devaux D, Derost P, Rieu I, Chambres P, Auxiette C, Legrand G, Galland F, Dalens H, Coulangeon LM, Broussolle E, Durif F, Jalenques I. Rapid Presentation of Emotional Expressions Reveals New Emotional Impairments in Tourette's Syndrome. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:149. [PMID: 23630481 PMCID: PMC3633791 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2012] [Accepted: 04/04/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Based on a variety of empirical evidence obtained within the theoretical framework of embodiment theory, we considered it likely that motor disorders in Tourette's syndrome (TS) would have emotional consequences for TS patients. However, previous research using emotional facial categorization tasks suggests that these consequences are limited to TS patients with obsessive-compulsive behaviors (OCB). METHOD These studies used long stimulus presentations which allowed the participants to categorize the different emotional facial expressions (EFEs) on the basis of a perceptual analysis that might potentially hide a lack of emotional feeling for certain emotions. In order to reduce this perceptual bias, we used a rapid visual presentation procedure. RESULTS Using this new experimental method, we revealed different and surprising impairments on several EFEs in TS patients compared to matched healthy control participants. Moreover, a spatial frequency analysis of the visual signal processed by the patients suggests that these impairments may be located at a cortical level. CONCLUSION The current study indicates that the rapid visual presentation paradigm makes it possible to identify various potential emotional disorders that were not revealed by the standard visual presentation procedures previously reported in the literature. Moreover, the spatial frequency analysis performed in our study suggests that emotional deficit in TS might lie at the level of temporal cortical areas dedicated to the processing of HSF visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martial Mermillod
- Université Grenoble Alpes, LPNC, Grenoble and CNRS, LPNC UMR 5105 Grenoble, France ; Institut Universitaire de France Paris, France
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24
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Ceccarini F, Caudek C. Anger superiority effect: The importance of dynamic emotional facial expressions. VISUAL COGNITION 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2013.807901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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25
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Calvo MG, Fernández-Martín A, Nummenmaa L. Perceptual, categorical, and affective processing of ambiguous smiling facial expressions. Cognition 2012; 125:373-93. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2011] [Revised: 07/20/2012] [Accepted: 07/23/2012] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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26
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Mermillod M, Bonin P, Méot A, Ferrand L, Paindavoine M. Computational Evidence That Frequency Trajectory Theory Does Not Oppose But Emerges From Age-of-Acquisition Theory. Cogn Sci 2012; 36:1499-531. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01266.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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27
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Arantes J, Berg ME. Kinship Recognition by Unrelated Observers Depends on Implicit and Explicit Cognition. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491201000204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that neutral observers are able to identify kinship in strangers by matching photographs of children with their parents. We asked whether this ability depended on implicit and/or explicit cognitive processes. Fifty unrelated male observers viewed triads of photographs (one woman in her early 20's and two older women) and had to select which of the two older women was the mother, and rate their confidence in their decision. Observers identified 62.5% of mother-daughter pairs correctly ( p < .001). Signal detection analyses showed that confidence was related to accuracy ( d' = .28) and observers could report the cues they utilized. However, those who failed to show a relationship between confidence and accuracy ( d' ≤ 0) still performed significantly above chance, and both confidence and d' decreased over trials whereas accuracy did not. Results show that neutral observers spontaneously used both explicit and implicit cognitive processes in the task. Recognition of kinship by neutral observers may be a task which allows the interplay between explicit and implicit cognition for a system relevant to ancestral social environments to be observed in the laboratory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Arantes
- Department of Psychology, Private Bag 4800, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Mark E. Berg
- The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, New Jersey, USA
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Is it a he or a she? Behavioral and computational approaches to sex categorization. Atten Percept Psychophys 2011; 73:1344-9. [PMID: 21541808 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-011-0139-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Can people categorize the sex of neonate faces? Our experiment tested the sex categorization of neonate faces by adult participants. We used a set of 120 Caucasian faces (adults and 4-day-old neonates) that were presented just once to a large sample of participants. A computational model of low-level visual processing, based on Gabor filters, was used to explore the relation between spatial-frequency information and sex categorization. The results showed that participants were able to categorize the sex of the faces, but were less accurate with neonate (d' = 0.36, β = -.97) than with adult (d' = 3.02, β = -.93) faces. Moreover, faces were more frequently categorized as boys' than girls' faces. The computational model suggests that specific spatial-frequency channels carry most of the useful information for the categorization task. Overall, the findings reveal that subtle differences in neonate facial structure were enough to allow the sex categorization of neonate faces, although accuracy was low in both adults and the computational model of low-level visual processing.
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Vermeulen N, Mermillod M. Fast emotional embodiment can modulate sensory exposure in perceivers. Commun Integr Biol 2011; 3:184-7. [PMID: 20585518 DOI: 10.4161/cib.3.2.10922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2009] [Accepted: 12/09/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Fear and disgust expressions are not arbitrary social cues. expressing fear maximizes sensory exposure (e.g., increases visual and nasal input), whereas expressing disgust reduces sensory exposure (e.g., decreases visual and nasal input).1 A similar effect of these emotional expressions has recently been found to modify sensory exposure at the level of the central nervous system (attention) in people perceiving these expressions.2 At an attentional level, sensory exposure is increased when perceiving fear and reduced when perceiving disgust. These findings suggest that response preparations are transmitted by expressers to perceivers. However, the processes involved in the transmission of such emotional action tendencies remain unclear. We suggest that emotional contagion by means of grounded cognition theories could be a simple, ecological and straight-forward explanation of this effect. The contagion through embodied simulation of others' emotional states with simple, efficient and very fast facial mimicry may represent the underlying process.
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Gilbert T, Martin R, Coulson M. Attentional biases using the body in the crowd task: Are angry body postures detected more rapidly? Cogn Emot 2011; 25:700-8. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2010.495881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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31
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Calvo MG, Nummenmaa L, Avero P. Recognition advantage of happy faces in extrafoveal vision: Featural and affective processing. VISUAL COGNITION 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2010.481867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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32
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Current positive and negative affective states modulate attention: An attentional blink study. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Mermillod M, Droit-Volet S, Devaux D, Schaefer A, Vermeulen N. Are Coarse Scales Sufficient for Fast Detection of Visual Threat? Psychol Sci 2010; 21:1429-37. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797610381503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
It has recently been suggested that low-spatial-frequency information would provide rapid visual cues to the amygdala for basic but ultrarapid behavioral responses to dangerous stimuli. The present behavioral study investigated the role of different spatial-frequency channels in visually detecting dangerous stimuli belonging to living or nonliving categories. Subjects were engaged in a visual detection task involving dangerous stimuli, and subjects’ behavioral responses were assessed in association with their fear expectations (induced by an aversive 90-dB white noise). Our results showed that, despite its crudeness, low-spatial-frequency information could constitute a sufficient signal for fast recognition of visual danger in a context of fear expectation. In addition, we found that this effect tended to be specific for living entities. These results were obtained despite a strong perceptual bias toward faster recognition of high-spatial-frequency stimuli under supraliminal perception durations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martial Mermillod
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 6024, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Sylvie Droit-Volet
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 6024, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Damien Devaux
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 6024, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Nicolas Vermeulen
- Psychology Department, Université Catholique de Louvain
- Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels, Belgium
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Mermillod M, Bonin P, Mondillon L, Alleysson D, Vermeulen N. Coarse scales are sufficient for efficient categorization of emotional facial expressions: Evidence from neural computation. Neurocomputing 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neucom.2010.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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35
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Kaminski G, Méary D, Mermillod M, Gentaz E. Perceptual Factors Affecting the Ability to Assess Facial Resemblance between Parents and Newborns in Humans. Perception 2010; 39:807-18. [DOI: 10.1068/p6372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
People undeniably pay attention to faces, and facial resemblance may act as a kinship cue. However, previous studies have shown that the ability to detect kinship through facial resemblance is limited, and it has been suggested that this may be due to several types of perceptual factors. To further understand the processes that underpin kinship judgment, it is important to investigate which perceptual factors predict the probability of parent–child pairs being detected as related. To this end, we performed two experiments. In the first, we evaluated the ability of human observers to match newborns with one of their parents. In the second, we explored three perceptual factors that may have influenced kinship detection (gender discrimination, facial attractiveness, and perceptual similarity). Results showed that the participants were able to match newborns with one of their parents, even though the task was perceived as difficult. Moreover, our study goes further than previous findings, showing that the perceptual factors investigated may significantly contribute to kinship detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwenaël Kaminski
- LPNC and CNRS, UMR 5105, Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble, France
| | - David Méary
- LPNC and CNRS, UMR 5105, Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble, France
| | - Martial Mermillod
- Université Blaise Pascal, LAPSCO and CNRS, UMR 6024, Clermont, France
| | - Edouard Gentaz
- LPNC and CNRS, UMR 5105, Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble, France
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Emotional modulation of attention: fear increases but disgust reduces the attentional blink. PLoS One 2009; 4:e7924. [PMID: 19936235 PMCID: PMC2775630 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2009] [Accepted: 10/20/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background It is well known that facial expressions represent important social cues. In humans expressing facial emotion, fear may be configured to maximize sensory exposure (e.g., increases visual input) whereas disgust can reduce sensory exposure (e.g., decreases visual input). To investigate whether such effects also extend to the attentional system, we used the “attentional blink” (AB) paradigm. Many studies have documented that the second target (T2) of a pair is typically missed when presented within a time window of about 200–500 ms from the first to-be-detected target (T1; i.e., the AB effect). It has recently been proposed that the AB effect depends on the efficiency of a gating system which facilitates the entrance of relevant input into working memory, while inhibiting irrelevant input. Following the inhibitory response on post T1 distractors, prolonged inhibition of the subsequent T2 is observed. In the present study, we hypothesized that processing facial expressions of emotion would influence this attentional gating. Fearful faces would increase but disgust faces would decrease inhibition of the second target. Methodology/Principal Findings We showed that processing fearful versus disgust faces has different effects on these attentional processes. We found that processing fear faces impaired the detection of T2 to a greater extent than did the processing disgust faces. This finding implies emotion-specific modulation of attention. Conclusions/Significance Based on the recent literature on attention, our finding suggests that processing fear-related stimuli exerts greater inhibitory responses on distractors relative to processing disgust-related stimuli. This finding is of particular interest for researchers examining the influence of emotional processing on attention and memory in both clinical and normal populations. For example, future research could extend upon the current study to examine whether inhibitory processes invoked by fear-related stimuli may be the mechanism underlying the enhanced learning of fear-related stimuli.
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