The effects of angry and happy expressions on recognition memory for unfamiliar faces in delusion-prone individuals.
Numerous studies suggest a cognitive bias for threat-related material in delusional ideation. However, few studies have examined this bias using a memory task. We investigated the influence of delusion-proneness on identity and expression memory for angry and happy faces. Participants high and low in delusion-proneness were presented with happy and angry faces and were later asked to recognise the same faces displaying a neutral expression. They also had to remember what the initial expressions of the faces had been. Remember/know/guess judgments were asked for both identity and expression memory. Results showed that delusion-prone participants better recognised the identity of angry faces compared to non-delusional participants. Also, this difference between the two groups was mainly due to a greater number of remember responses in delusion-prone participants. These findings extend previous studies by showing that delusions are associated with a memory bias for threat-related stimuli.
Larøi
Frank
F
Cognitive Psychopathology Unit, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Liège, Boulevard du Rectorat (B33), 4000 Liège, Belgium. flaroi@ulg.ac.be
D'Argembeau
Arnaud
A
Van der Linden
Martial
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001288:Attention; D003469:Culture; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D012938:Social Perception