Individual differences in identifying faces: the role of anxiety and eye movements

Jones, S.P, Hills, P.J, Bennett, S and Uljarevic, M (2015) Individual differences in identifying faces: the role of anxiety and eye movements. In: Experimental Psychology Society: Leeds Meeting, 8 - 10 April 2015, University of Leeds, UK.

Abstract

People vary in their ability to identify faces (Burton, White, & McNeil, 2010), and that factors such as anxiety and facets of personality can influence an individual’s ability to accurately recognise a face (e.g., Davis et al., 2011; Megreya and Bindemann 2013). Two experiments examined how anxiety may influence the way in which faces are attended. In particular, how individuals with higher anxiety traits may actively avoid faces relative to those with low anxiety. Experiment 1 examined the relationship between anxiety and perception of neutral faces as positive or negative (valence). Participants were required to subjectively rate the expressions of happy, neutral, and angry faces, on a continuum, following identity matching. Consistent with previous findings mood altered the ability to identify faces, but also the perception of faces. Individuals who were more anxious perceived angry expressions to be more negative. Similarly, those who reported higher levels of depression perceived angry expressions to be more negative. A subsequent experiment investigating the relationship between anxiety and time spent attending to faces, by recording eye movements, will also be presented. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences in perceptual processing skills and mechanisms that underlie the relationship between mood and face processing.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QP Physiology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions:	School of Sciences
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2016 15:43
Last Modified:	15 Aug 2021 09:43
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/8286

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