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Trait Anxiety Impacts the Perceived Gaze Direction of Fearful But Not Angry Faces

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Psychology, July 2017
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Title
Trait Anxiety Impacts the Perceived Gaze Direction of Fearful But Not Angry Faces
Published in
Frontiers in Psychology, July 2017
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01186
Pubmed ID
Authors

Zhonghua Hu, Maria Gendron, Qiang Liu, Guang Zhao, Hong Li

Abstract

Facial expression and gaze direction play an important role in social communication. Previous research has demonstrated the perception of anger is enhanced by direct gaze, whereas, it is unclear whether perception of fear is enhanced by averted gaze. In addition, previous research has shown the anxiety affects the processing of facial expression and gaze direction, but hasn't measured or controlled for depression. As a result, firm conclusions cannot be made regarding the impact of individual differences in anxiety and depression on perceptions of face expressions and gaze direction. The current study attempted to reexamine the effect of the anxiety level on the processing of facial expressions and gaze direction by matching participants on depression scores. A reliable psychophysical index of the range of eye gaze angles judged as being directed at oneself [the cone of direct gaze (CoDG)] was used as the dependent variable in this study. Participants were stratified into high/low trait anxiety groups and asked to judge the gaze of angry, fearful, and neutral faces across a range of gaze directions. The result showed: (1) the perception of gaze direction was influenced by facial expression and this was modulated by trait anxiety. For the high trait anxiety group, the CoDG for angry expressions was wider than for fearful and neutral expressions, and no significant difference emerged between fearful and neutral expressions; For the low trait anxiety group, the CoDG for both angry and fearful expressions was wider than for neutral, and no significant difference emerged between angry and fearful expressions. (2) Trait anxiety modulated the perception of gaze direction only in the fearful condition, such that the fearful CoDG for the high trait anxiety group was narrower than the low trait anxiety group. This demonstrated that anxiety distinctly affected gaze perception in expressions that convey threat (angry, fearful), such that a high trait anxiety level modulated the impact of indirectly threatening expressions (fearful), and did not influence responses to directly threatening expression (angry). These findings partially support the shared signal hypothesis.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 42 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 42 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 9 21%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 17%
Student > Bachelor 3 7%
Professor > Associate Professor 3 7%
Lecturer 2 5%
Other 6 14%
Unknown 12 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 22 52%
Neuroscience 2 5%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 1 2%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 1 2%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 2%
Other 2 5%
Unknown 13 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 14 July 2017.
All research outputs
#20,434,884
of 22,988,380 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Psychology
#24,357
of 30,186 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#272,401
of 312,506 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Psychology
#513
of 575 outputs
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