Instructed threat enhances threat perception in faces

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Emotional Processing

Background:

• Anxiety influences threat detection and perception of facial expressions.
• Facial emotion recognition can be modulated by situational context, such as perceived threat.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how aversive anticipation (state anxiety) affects facial emotion recognition accuracy and perceived intensity.
• To examine the relationship between trait anxiety and the perception of emotional faces.

Main Methods:

• Participants (N=43) categorized and rated the intensity of morphed fearful, angry, and happy faces (20-80% intensity).
• Stimuli were presented within frames indicating either threat (electric shock) or safety.
• Trait anxiety levels were assessed.

Main Results:

• Threat condition improved accurate categorization of fearful faces.
• Emotional faces (fearful, angry, happy) were perceived as more intense during threat.
• Higher trait anxiety correlated with increased miscategorization of neutral faces as fearful.

Conclusions:

• State anxiety enhances accurate fear recognition and intensifies emotional perception.
• Trait anxiety is associated with a bias towards perceiving threats in neutral stimuli.
• Anxiety plays a dual role in threat perception, affecting both accuracy and bias.