Autor de correspondencia. Correo electrónico: celio.estanislau@gmail.com
Previous studies have shown that depression and anxiety are associated to changes in the recognition of facial expression. In the present research, a non-clinical sample was evaluated with respect to trait and state anxiety and depression symptoms. In the experimental task, participants evaluated facial expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, and fear, presented at four intensities (25, 50, 75, and 100%), as well as the neutral face. Results showed that the trait anxiety was associated with a better recognition of anger, fear, and happiness. For depression, we only found differences between groups for emotional attribution to neutral faces, in which participants scoring high in depression were more likely to attribute fear to neutral faces. Findings indicate an improvement of the recognition of happiness, anger, and fear in trait anxiety, whereas symptoms of depression and state anxiety were associated to changes in the evaluation of neutral faces in non-clinical individuals.
Estudios han demostrado que la depresión y la ansiedad están asociados a cambios en el reconocimiento de la expresión facial. En la presente investigación, una muestra no clínica ha sido evaluada con respecto a la ansiedad rasgo y estado y los síntomas de depresión. En la tarea experimental, los participantes evaluaran expresiones faciales de alegría, ira, tristeza y miedo, presentadas en cuatro intensidades (25, 50, 75 y 100%), y el rostro neutro. Los resultados mostraron que la ansiedad rasgo se asoció con un mejor reconocimiento de la ira, miedo y alegría. Para la depresión, sólo se encontraron diferencias entre los grupos para la atribución emocional a rostros neutros, en el que los participantes que puntuaran alto en depresión eran más propensos a atribuir miedo a rostros neutros. Los resultados indican una mejora del reconocimiento de la alegría, ira y miedo en la ansiedad rasgo, mientras que los síntomas de depresión y ansiedad estado están asociados a cambios en la evaluación de rostros neutros en individuos no clínicos.
Facial expressions of emotions (FEE) can convey information about the emotional states. They have an adaptive value in the context of social interactions and can inform us about feelings and trends of action of others individuals in a social environment (
Evidences indicate that brain regions involved with social cognition and facial expressions recognition partially overlap. For example, the amygdala can be activated by FEE as well as in theory-of-mind tasks involving judgments of FEE (
The link between the recognition of FEE and depression and anxiety is not well established yet. A recent meta-analysis concluded that both anxiety and major depression disorders led to impairments in the recognition of facial expressions in adults, but not in children with anxiety disorders (
Biases in judgment of neutral faces are another example of maladaptive social functioning. For example, evidences suggested that ambiguous expressions can be interpreted as threatening stimuli by socially anxious people (
Previous studies suggest that depression and anxiety interfere with the recognition of FEE and lead to biases in judgments of neutral faces (
A total of 150 undergraduate students participated in the study: 112 women and 38 men. Participants being over 18 years of age and having normal vision were used as inclusion criteria.
The procedure was carried with 10 participants each time. The participants were instructed to complete both the trait and state sections of the Brazilian version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (
The slides were sequentially numbered and each slide showed a photograph of a male or female person posing a neutral face or an emotion. The photographs were randomly sequenced and each slide lasted for 2 s. Participant responded in a recording sheet indicating the emotion after each face presentation. The researcher assisted the participants in the task, which was entirely completed by all of them.
Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between trait and state STAI and BDI scores at one side, and recognition of facial expression of emotions and attribution of emotions to neutral faces at the other side.
Additionally, we formed two groups with participants with scores more than one standard deviation below or above the mean for trait and state STAI and BDI scores. These groups were compared in recognition of facial expression of emotions and attribution of emotions to neutral faces by means of unpaired t tests. The significance level was set at p < 0.05.
* p < 0.05,
** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001
Low positive significant correlations were found between STAI trait anxiety scores and recognition of facial expressions of happiness, anger, and fear (
No significant correlations were found between scores in the BDI and recognition of facial expressions or attribution of emotions to neutral faces (
* p < 0.05,
** p < 0.01
The group presenting high STAI trait anxiety scores, as compared to the ‘low’ group, recognized faces of happiness, anger, and fear significantly better (t[61] < -2.19, p < 0.05). Both groups did not significantly differ in recognition of sadness faces. The attribution of emotions to neutral faces did not discriminate the groups. When ‘low’ and ‘high’ groups were formed according to STAI state anxiety scores, these groups showed opposite results in attribution of fear or surprise to neutral faces: the ‘high’ group attributed more fear (t[50] = -2.13, p < 0.05) and less surprise (t[50] = 2.21, p < 0.05) than the other group.
When the participants were grouped as ‘low’ or ‘high’ in respect to their BDI scores, no differences were found in recognition of facial expressions. The only difference they showed was that participants of the ‘high’ group were more likely to attribute fear to neutral faces (t[38] = -2.15, p < 0.05).
The present results suggest that non-clinical trait anxiety is associated with moderately better recognition of anger, fear, and happiness. State anxiety was found to induce the interpretation of neutral faces to a lower degree as surprise and to a higher degree as fear. Such bias of interpreting neutral faces as fear was also found in the group with more symptoms related to depression.
Anxiety is an emotional functioning triggered by potential threat, which can be identified by the detection of cues related to a previous aversive experience, or can assume the form of novel (and, thus, unpredictable) situations (
Some previous studies also found relationship between improved detection of emotional signals and anxiety/fear (
Cross-cultural studies have shown some confusion in the recognition of fear and surprise facial expressions (
Our main results are: (1) some degree of association between symptoms of anxiety (trait) and recognition of FEE (anger, fear, and happiness); and, (2) biases in the attribution of emotions to neutral faces in people scoring high in state of anxiety or in symptoms of depression. The recognition of FEE and the attribution of emotions to neutral faces are facets of the social functioning (
NMFR was recipient of a CAPES fellowship during the data collection and CE is recipient of a research fellowship from CNPq (proc. 307388/2015-8).
Research article.