University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States.
Biol Psychol. 2012 Sep;91(1):103-10. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.05.002. Epub 2012 May 27.
Pictures of emotional facial expressions or natural scenes are often used as cues in emotion research. We examined the extent to which these different stimuli engage emotion and attention, and whether the presence of social anxiety symptoms influences responding to facial cues. Sixty participants reporting high or low social anxiety viewed pictures of angry, neutral, and happy faces, as well as violent, neutral, and erotic scenes, while skin conductance and event-related potentials were recorded. Acoustic startle probes were presented throughout picture viewing, and blink magnitude, probe P3 and reaction time to the startle probe also were measured. Results indicated that viewing emotional scenes prompted strong reactions in autonomic, central, and reflex measures, whereas pictures of faces were generally weak elicitors of measurable emotional response. However, higher social anxiety was associated with modest electrodermal changes when viewing angry faces and mild startle potentiation when viewing either angry or smiling faces, compared to neutral. Taken together, pictures of facial expressions do not strongly engage fundamental affective reactions, but these cues appeared to be effective in distinguishing between high and low social anxiety participants, supporting their use in anxiety research.
情绪面部表情或自然场景的图片通常被用作情绪研究的线索。我们研究了这些不同刺激引起情绪和注意力的程度，以及是否存在社交焦虑症状会影响对面部线索的反应。60 名报告高或低社交焦虑的参与者观看了愤怒、中性和开心的面孔以及暴力、中性和色情场景的图片，同时记录皮肤电导和事件相关电位。在观看图片的过程中会呈现声音惊跳探测，还会测量眨眼幅度、探测 P3 和对惊跳探测的反应时间。结果表明，观看情绪场景会在自主、中枢和反射措施中引发强烈反应，而面部图片通常是情绪反应的微弱诱发因素。然而，与中性表情相比，观看愤怒面孔时，社交焦虑程度较高者的皮肤电反应会发生适度变化，而观看愤怒或微笑面孔时，惊跳反应会轻微增强。总的来说，面部表情的图片并不能强烈引起基本的情感反应，但这些线索似乎能够有效地区分高社交焦虑和低社交焦虑的参与者，支持它们在焦虑研究中的应用。
