The influence of anxiety on the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry
The influence of anxiety on the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry
Neurocognitive theories of anxiety predict that threat-related information can be evaluated before attentional selection, and can influence behaviour differentially in high anxious compared to low anxious individuals. We investigate this further by presenting emotional and neutral faces in an adapted binocular rivalry paradigm. We show that the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry is highly influenced by self-reported state and trait anxiety-level. Heightened anxiety was correlated with increased perception of angry and fearful faces, and decreased perception of happy expressions. These results are consistent with recent evidence of involuntary selection of threat in anxiety.
anxiety, emotion, face processing, binocular rivalry
105-110
Gray, Katie L.H.
b86092bd-a484-4e3f-a367-4c709e90ed77
Adams, Wendy J.
25685aaa-fc54-4d25-8d65-f35f4c5ab688
Garner, Matthew
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
October 2009
Gray, Katie L.H.
b86092bd-a484-4e3f-a367-4c709e90ed77
Adams, Wendy J.
25685aaa-fc54-4d25-8d65-f35f4c5ab688
Garner, Matthew
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
Abstract
Neurocognitive theories of anxiety predict that threat-related information can be evaluated before attentional selection, and can influence behaviour differentially in high anxious compared to low anxious individuals. We investigate this further by presenting emotional and neutral faces in an adapted binocular rivalry paradigm. We show that the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry is highly influenced by self-reported state and trait anxiety-level. Heightened anxiety was correlated with increased perception of angry and fearful faces, and decreased perception of happy expressions. These results are consistent with recent evidence of involuntary selection of threat in anxiety.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 4 August 2009
Published date: October 2009
Keywords:
anxiety, emotion, face processing, binocular rivalry
Organisations:
Psychology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 66746
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/66746
ISSN: 0010-0277
PURE UUID: 976c1ec8-69bf-4db0-94a8-4c0cbb6de3f4
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Date deposited: 15 Jul 2009
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:49
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Author:
Katie L.H. Gray
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