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Published on: September 1, 2011
Postauricular and eyeblink startle responses to facial expressions
Ursula Hess1, Gabrielle Sabourin, Robert E Kleck
1Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Psychophysiology
|March 21, 2007
Summary
Facial expression perception differs by sex. Women showed stronger emotional responses to happy and angry faces, while men
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Emotional facial expressions convey significant affective information.
- Perceptions of facial expressions (e.g., smiles, anger) are influenced by expresser's sex-related morphological cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sex differences in psychophysiological responses to emotional facial expressions.
- To assess eyeblink startle and postauricular reflex during happy and angry expressions by male and female expressers.
Main Methods:
- 14 male and 16 female undergraduates observed happy, neutral, and angry facial expressions.
- Eyeblink startle and postauricular reflex were measured during expression and picture viewing.
Main Results:
- Postauricular reflex potentiation during happy expressions and inhibition during anger expressions were more pronounced in female expressers.
- Eyeblink startle potentiation during angry faces and inhibition during happy faces were observed only in male expressers.
Conclusions:
- Sex modulates the processing of emotional facial expressions.
- Distinct sex-specific patterns in psychophysiological responses to emotional faces were identified.
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