title: Emotional expressions and visual search efficiency: specificity and effects of anxiety symptoms.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. olabunmi.o.olatunji@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Bunmi O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Olatunji
authors.forename: Bethany G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Ciesielski
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zald
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult