Sawada Reiko, Sato Wataru, Kochiyama Takanori, Uono Shota, Kubota Yasutaka, Yoshimura Sayaka, Toichi Motomi
Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan.
Faculty of Human Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
PLoS One. 2014 Apr 11;9(4):e94747. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094747. eCollection 2014.
Previous studies have shown that females and males differ in the processing of emotional facial expressions including the recognition of emotion, and that emotional facial expressions are detected more rapidly than are neutral expressions. However, whether the sexes differ in the rapid detection of emotional facial expressions remains unclear.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We measured reaction times (RTs) during a visual search task in which 44 females and 46 males detected normal facial expressions of anger and happiness or their anti-expressions within crowds of neutral expressions. Anti-expressions expressed neutral emotions with visual changes quantitatively comparable to normal expressions. We also obtained subjective emotional ratings in response to the facial expression stimuli. RT results showed that both females and males detected normal expressions more rapidly than anti-expressions and normal-angry expressions more rapidly than normal-happy expressions. However, females and males showed different patterns in their subjective ratings in response to the facial expressions. Furthermore, sex differences were found in the relationships between subjective ratings and RTs. High arousal was more strongly associated with rapid detection of facial expressions in females, whereas negatively valenced feelings were more clearly associated with the rapid detection of facial expressions in males.
Our data suggest that females and males differ in their subjective emotional reactions to facial expressions and in the emotional processes that modulate the detection of facial expressions.
先前的研究表明，男性和女性在处理包括情绪识别在内的情绪化面部表情时存在差异，并且情绪化面部表情比中性表情能被更快地检测到。然而，男女在情绪化面部表情的快速检测方面是否存在差异仍不清楚。
方法/主要发现：我们在一项视觉搜索任务中测量了反应时间（RTs），在该任务中，44名女性和46名男性在中性表情群体中检测愤怒和快乐的正常面部表情或其反表情。反表情通过视觉变化表达中性情绪，其变化程度与正常表情在数量上相当。我们还获取了对面部表情刺激的主观情绪评分。反应时间结果显示，女性和男性检测正常表情的速度均快于反表情，检测正常愤怒表情的速度快于正常快乐表情。然而，女性和男性对这些面部表情的主观评分呈现出不同的模式。此外，在主观评分与反应时间之间的关系上发现了性别差异。高唤醒与女性对面部表情的快速检测更密切相关，而负性情绪感受与男性对面部表情的快速检测更明显相关。
我们的数据表明，女性和男性在对面部表情的主观情绪反应以及调节面部表情检测的情绪过程方面存在差异。
