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Threatening Facial Expressions Impact Goal-Directed Actions Only if Task-Relevant
Christian Mancini1, Luca Falciati1, Claudio Maioli1
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia (BS), Italy.
Brain Sciences
|November 3, 2020
Summary
Facial expressions impact action planning, but only when relevant to the task. Angry and fearful faces decrease response readiness, with anger having a stronger effect than fear.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
- Human Behavior
Background:
- Facial emotional expressions are crucial for nonverbal social interactions.
- The influence of threatening facial expressions (anger, fear) on action planning remains debated.
- Anger and fear, though both negative, signal different social threats.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the context-dependent effects of facial emotions on action planning and execution.
- To differentiate the impact of angry versus fearful faces on motor responses.
- To understand the cognitive resources required for processing threatening facial expressions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a novel Go/No-go task with emotional and control versions.
- Participants performed or withheld movements in response to fearful, angry, happy, or neutral faces.
- A control task used facial gender to direct movement, isolating emotion's effect.
Main Results:
- Emotional facial expressions interfered with actions only when task-relevant, demonstrating context-dependency.
- Both angry and fearful faces reduced response readiness compared to happy faces.
- Angry faces significantly increased error rates and movement execution time more than fearful faces.
Conclusions:
- The impact of facial emotions on action is context-dependent.
- Threatening facial expressions, particularly anger, demand greater cognitive resources for appraisal before action.
- Distinguishing between anger and fear is critical for understanding their distinct effects on behavior.
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