Bombari Dario, Schmid Petra C, Schmid Mast Marianne, Birri Sandra, Mast Fred W, Lobmaier Janek S
a Department of Psychology , University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2013;66(12):2426-42. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2013.789065. Epub 2013 May 16.
Several studies investigated the role of featural and configural information when processing facial identity. A lot less is known about their contribution to emotion recognition. In this study, we addressed this issue by inducing either a featural or a configural processing strategy (Experiment 1) and by investigating the attentional strategies in response to emotional expressions (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, participants identified emotional expressions in faces that were presented in three different versions (intact, blurred, and scrambled) and in two orientations (upright and inverted). Blurred faces contain mainly configural information, and scrambled faces contain mainly featural information. Inversion is known to selectively hinder configural processing. Analyses of the discriminability measure (A') and response times (RTs) revealed that configural processing plays a more prominent role in expression recognition than featural processing, but their relative contribution varies depending on the emotion. In Experiment 2, we qualified these differences between emotions by investigating the relative importance of specific features by means of eye movements. Participants had to match intact expressions with the emotional cues that preceded the stimulus. The analysis of eye movements confirmed that the recognition of different emotions rely on different types of information. While the mouth is important for the detection of happiness and fear, the eyes are more relevant for anger, fear, and sadness.
多项研究调查了处理面部识别时特征信息和整体信息的作用。关于它们对情绪识别的贡献则所知甚少。在本研究中，我们通过诱导特征或整体加工策略（实验1）以及通过调查对情绪表达的注意策略（实验2）来解决这个问题。在实验1中，参与者识别呈现为三种不同版本（完整、模糊和打乱）以及两种方向（正立和倒置）的面部的情绪表达。模糊的面部主要包含整体信息，而打乱的面部主要包含特征信息。已知倒置会选择性地阻碍整体加工。对辨别力指标（A'）和反应时间（RTs）的分析表明，整体加工在表情识别中比特征加工发挥更突出的作用，但其相对贡献因情绪而异。在实验2中，我们通过眼动研究特定特征的相对重要性来确定这些情绪之间的差异。参与者必须将完整的表情与刺激之前的情绪线索进行匹配。眼动分析证实，不同情绪的识别依赖于不同类型的信息。虽然嘴巴对于检测快乐和恐惧很重要，但眼睛对于愤怒、恐惧和悲伤更相关。
