title: The time course of face processing: startle eyeblink response modulation by face gender and expression.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of both facial expression and face gender on startle eyeblink response patterns at varying lead intervals (300, 800, and 3500ms) indicative of attentional and emotional processes. We aimed to determine whether responses to affective faces map onto the Defense Cascade Model (Lang et al., 1997) to better understand the stages of processing during affective face viewing. At 300ms, there was an interaction between face expression and face gender with female happy and neutral faces and male angry faces producing inhibited startle. At 3500ms, there was a trend for facilitated startle during angry compared to neutral faces. These findings suggest that affective expressions are perceived differently in male and female faces, especially at short lead intervals. Future studies investigating face processing should take both face gender and expression into account.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Missouri - Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, United States. Electronic address: eduval@med.umich.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Duval
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lovelace
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aarant
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Filion
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention; Emotion; Face processing; Startle