Role of surprise in the discrimination of the facial expression of fear

  1. Fernando Gordillo 1
  2. Lilia Mestas 2
  3. Miguel Ángel Pérez 1
  4. José M. Arana 3
  5. Eduardo Alejandro Escotto 2
  1. 1 Universidad Camilo José Cela
    info

    Universidad Camilo José Cela

    Villanueva de la Cañada, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03f6h9044

  2. 2 Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza (Mexico)
  3. 3 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2018

Número: 21

Páginas: 1-9

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2018.5 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Objetivos de desarrollo sostenible

Resumen

The facilitating role of the facial expression of surprise in the discrimination of the facial expression of fear was analyzed. The sample consisted of 202 subjects that undertook a forced-choice test in which they had to decide as quickly as possible whether the facial expression displayed on-screen was one of fear, anger or happiness. Variations were made to the prime expression (neutral expression, or one of surprise); the target expression (facial expression of fear, anger or happiness), and the prime duration (50 ms, 150 ms or 250 ms). The results revealed shorter reaction times in the response to the expression of fear when the prime expression was one of surprise, with a prime duration of 50 ms (p = .009) and 150 ms (p = .001), compared to when the prime expression was a neutral one. By contrast, the reaction times were longer in the discrimination of an expression of fear when the prime expression was one of surprise with a prime duration of 250 ms (p < .0001), compared to when the prime expression was a neutral one. This pattern of results was obtained solely in the discrimination of the expression of fear. The discussion focuses on these findings and the possible functional continuity between surprise and fear.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Cunningham, W. A., & Brosch, T. (2012). Motivational salience: Amygdala tuning from traits, needs, values, and goals. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 54–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411430832
  • Davidson, R. J., Sherer, K. R., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2000). The handbook of affective sciences. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Du, S., & Martínez, A. M. (2013). Wait, are you sad or angry? Large exposure time differences required for the categorization of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Vision, 13(4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1167/13.4.13
  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). Facial action coding system: A technique for the measurement of facial movement. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
  • Ellsworth, P. C., & Scherer, K. R. (2003). Appraisal processes in emotion. In Davidson, R., Scherer, K. R., & Goldsmith, H. H. (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 572–595). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Fazio, R. H. (2001). On the automatic activation of associated evaluations: An overview. Cognition and Emotion, 15, 115–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930125908
  • Hermans, D., De Houwer, J., & Eelen, P. (2001). A time course analysis of the affective priming effect. Cognition and Emotion, 15(2), 143–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930125768
  • Izard, C. E. (1991). The psychology of emotions. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
  • Jack, R. E., Garrod, O. G. B., & Schyns, P. G. (2014). Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time. Current Biology, 24, 187–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.064
  • Jack, R. E., Sun, W., Delis, I., Garrod, O. G. B., & Schyns, P. G. (2016). Four not six: Revealing culturally common facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(6), 708–730. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000162
  • Kim, H., Somerville, L. H., Johnstone, T., Alexander, A. L., & Whalen, P. J. (2003). Inverse amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex responses to surprised faces. NeuroReport, 14, 2317–2322. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnr.0000101520.44335.20
  • Klauer, K., & Musch, J. (2003). Affective priming: Findings and theories. In Musch, J. & Klauer, K. (Eds.), The psychology of evaluation: Affective processes in cognition and emotion (pp. 7–49). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • LeDoux, J. E. (1993). Emotional networks in the brain. In Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., & Feldman, L. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  • Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., & Feldman, L. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of emotions (3 rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
  • Matsumoto, D., Keltner, D., Shiota, M. N., Frank, M. G., & O’Sullivan, M. (2008). What’s in a face? Facial expressions as signals of discrete emotions. In Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., & Feldman, L. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 211–234). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  • Mellers, B. A., Schwartz, A., Ho, K., & Ritov, I. (1997). Decision affect theory: Emotional reactions to the outcomes of risky options. Psychological Science, 8, 423–429. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00455.x
  • Neta, M., & Whalen, P. J. (2011). The primacy of negative interpretations when resolving the valence of ambiguous facial expressions. Psychological Science, 21(7), 901–907. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610373934
  • Öhman, A. (2002). Automaticity and the amygdala: Nonconscious responses to emotional faces. Current Directions in Psychological Science,11, 62–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00169
  • Öhman, A., & Wiens, S. (2003). On the automaticity of autonomic responses in emotion: An evolutionary perspective. In Davidson, R. J., Scherer, K., & Hill, H. H. (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 256–275). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Pessoa, L., & Adolphs, R. (2010). Emotion processing and the amygdala: From a ‘low road’ to ‘many roads’ of evaluating biological significance. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11, 773–783. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2920
  • Posamentier, M. T., & Abdi, H. (2003). Processing Faces and Facial Expressions. Neuropsychology Review, 13(3), 113–143. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025519712569
  • Reisenzein, R., & Studtmann, M. (2007). On the expression and experience of surprise: No evidence for facial feedback, but evidence for a reverse self-inference effect. Emotion, 7, 612–627. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.612
  • Scherer, K. R. (1984). Emotion and multicomponent process: A model and some cross-cultural data. In Shaver, P. (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 37–63). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
  • Spinoza, B., Ethics, translated by Boyle, Andrew and revised by Parkinson, G. H. R. (1989). London, UK: J. M. Dent. (Original work published 1677)
  • Tottenham, N., Tanaka, J. W., Leon, A. C., McCarry, T., Nurse, M., Hare, T. A., … Nelson, C. (2009). The NimStim set of facial expressions: judgments from untrained research participants. Psychiatry Research, 168, 242–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2008.05.006
  • Tottenham, N., Phuong, J., Flannery, J., Gabard-Durnam, L., & Goff, B. (2013). A negativity bias for ambiguous facial-expression valence during childhood: Converging evidence from behavior and facial corrugator muscle responses. Emotion, 13(1), 92–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029431
  • Vrticka, P., Lordier, L., Bediou, B., & Sander, D. (2014). Human amygdala response to dynamic facial expressions of positive and negative surprise. Emotion, 14(1), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034619
  • Vytal, K., & Hamann, S. (2010). Neuroimaging support for discrete neural correlates of basic emotions: A voxel-based meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 2864–2885. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21366
  • Wagner, H. L. (1993). On measuring performance in category judgment studies of nonverbal behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 17(1), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987006
  • Zillmann, D. (1971). Excitation transfer in communication-mediated aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 419–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(71)90075-8