Context sensitivity in the detection of changes in facial emotion.

ABSTRACT: In social contexts, reading subtle changes in others' facial expressions is a crucial communication skill. To measure this ability, we developed an expression-change detection task, wherein a series of pictures of changes in an individual's facial expressions within contextual scenes were presented. The results demonstrated that the detection of subtle changes was highly sensitive to contextual stimuli. That is, participants identified the direction of facial-expression changes more accurately and more quickly when they were 'appropriate'-consistent with the valence of the contextual stimulus change-than when they were 'inappropriate'. Moreover, individual differences in sensitivity to contextual stimuli were correlated with scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, a commonly used measure

SUBMITTER: Yamashita Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4904217 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature