Trait anxiety and involuntary processing of facial emotions.
There is suggestion that trait anxiety influences the processing of threat-related information. To test this hypothesis we recorded ERPs in response to subliminally presented and backward masked fearful and neutral faces, and non-face objects, in the preselected low- and high-anxious individuals. The amplitude of N170 was found to be larger when elicited by faces in comparison to non-faces, however it was not found to be emotion-sensitive or modulated by anxiety level. Differences between low- and high-anxious individuals appeared in a time window of the P1 component. At later stages, within the EPN component, stronger negativity specific for fearful faces was recorded exclusively in the low-anxious participants. Our findings indicate that anxiety level modulates early stages of information processing, as reflected in the P1 component. This leads to anxiety-related differences in involuntary emotional expression detection at later stages (EPN component).
Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. w.walentowska@gmail.com
Wioleta
W
Walentowska
Eligiusz
E
Wronka
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D055815:Young Adult