Emotional Expressions and Visual Search Efficiency: Specificity and Effects of Anxiety Symptoms

Although facial expressions are thought to vary in their functional impact on perceivers, experimental demonstration of the differential effects of facial expressions on behavior are lacking. In the present study, we examined the effects of exposure to facial expressions on visual search efficiency....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2011-10, Vol.11 (5), p.1073-1079
Main Authors: OLATUNJI, Bunmi O, CIESIELSKI, Bethany G, ARMSTRONG, Thomas, ZALD, David H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Anxiety Disorders
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Emotions
Facial Expression
Facial Expressions
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Male
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Perception
Personality. Affectivity
Photic Stimulation
Psychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Vision
Visual Search
Young Adult
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Summary:Although facial expressions are thought to vary in their functional impact on perceivers, experimental demonstration of the differential effects of facial expressions on behavior are lacking. In the present study, we examined the effects of exposure to facial expressions on visual search efficiency. Participants (n = 31) searched for a target in a 12 location circle array after exposure to an angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, or neutral facial expression for 100 ms or 500 ms. Consistent with predictions, exposure to a fearful expression prior to visual search resulted in faster target identification compared to exposure to other facial expressions. The effects of other facial expressions on visual search did not differ from each other. The fear facilitating effect on visual search efficiency was observed at 500-ms but not at 100-ms presentations, suggesting a specific temporal course of the facilitation. Subsequent analysis also revealed that individual differences in fear of negative evaluation, trait anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms possess a differential pattern of association with visual search efficiency. The experimental and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/a0021785