title: Trait Anxiety Is Associated with Negative Interpretations When Resolving Valence Ambiguity of Surprised Faces.
abstract: The current research examines whether trait anxiety is associated with negative interpretation bias when resolving valence ambiguity of surprised faces. To further isolate the neuro-cognitive mechanism, we presented angry, happy, and surprised faces at broad spatial frequency (BSF), high spatial frequency (HSF), and low spatial frequency (LSF) and asked participants to determine the valence of each face. High trait anxiety was associated with more negative interpretations of BSF (i.e., intact) surprised faces. However, the modulation of trait anxiety on the negative interpretation of surprised faces disappeared at HSF and LSF. The current study provides evidence that trait anxiety modulates negative interpretations of BSF surprised faces. However, the negative interpretation of LSF surprised faces appears to be a robust default response that occurs regardless of individual differences in trait anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa CA, USA.
authors.forename: Gewnhi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Vasey
authors.affiliation: Rosemead School of Psychology, La Mirada CA, USA.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA.
authors.forename: Dixie D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA.
authors.forename: Julian F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Thayer
keywords: anxiety; interpretation bias; negativity bias; spatial frequencies; surprised faces