Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Emotion. 2013 Apr;13(2):183-8. doi: 10.1037/a0031373. Epub 2013 Feb 11.
Threatening faces have a privileged status in the brain, which can be reflected in a processing advantage. However, this effect varies among individuals, even healthy adults. For example, one recent study showed that fearful face detection sensitivity correlated with trait anxiety in healthy adults (S. Japee, L. Crocker, F. Carver, L. Pessoa, & L. G. Ungerleider, 2009. Individual differences in valence modulation of face-selective M170 response. Emotion, 9, 59-69). Here, we expanded on those findings by investigating whether intersubject variability in fearful face detection is also associated with state anxiety, as well as more broadly with other traits related to anxiety. To measure fearful face detection sensitivity, we used a masked face paradigm where the target face was presented for only 33 ms and was immediately followed by a neutral face mask. Subjects then rated their confidence in detecting either fear or no fear in the target face. Fearful face detection sensitivity was calculated for each subject using signal detection theory. Replicating previous results, we found a significant positive correlation between trait anxiety and fearful face detection sensitivity. However, this behavioral advantage did not correlate with state anxiety. We also found that fearful face detection sensitivity correlated with other personality measures, including neuroticism and harm avoidance. Our data suggest that fearful face detection sensitivity varies parametrically across the healthy population, is associated broadly with personality traits related to anxiety, but remains largely unaffected by situational fluctuations in anxiety. These results underscore the important contribution of anxiety-related personality traits to threat processing in healthy adults.
威胁面孔在大脑中具有特权地位，这可以反映在处理优势上。然而，这种效应在个体之间是不同的，即使是健康的成年人也是如此。例如，最近的一项研究表明，在健康成年人中，恐惧面孔检测的敏感性与特质焦虑相关（S. Japee、L. Crocker、F. Carver、L. Pessoa 和 L. G. Ungerleider，2009. 健康成年人中面孔选择性 M170 反应的效价调制的个体差异。情绪，9，59-69）。在这里，我们通过研究恐惧面孔检测的个体间变异性是否也与状态焦虑以及更广泛地与焦虑相关的其他特征相关，扩展了这些发现。为了测量恐惧面孔检测的敏感性，我们使用了掩蔽面孔范式，其中目标面孔仅呈现 33 毫秒，然后立即呈现中性面孔掩蔽。然后，受试者对他们在目标面孔中检测到恐惧或没有恐惧的信心进行评分。使用信号检测理论为每个受试者计算恐惧面孔检测的敏感性。复制先前的结果，我们发现特质焦虑与恐惧面孔检测敏感性之间存在显著的正相关。然而，这种行为优势与状态焦虑无关。我们还发现，恐惧面孔检测的敏感性与其他人格测量相关，包括神经质和回避伤害。我们的数据表明，恐惧面孔检测的敏感性在健康人群中呈参数变化，与焦虑相关的人格特征广泛相关，但在很大程度上不受焦虑的情境波动影响。这些结果强调了焦虑相关人格特征对健康成年人威胁处理的重要贡献。
