TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schwarz, Katharina A.
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
A1  - Gerdes, Antje B. M.
A1  - Mühlberger, Andreas
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Why are you looking like that? How the context influences evaluation and processing of human faces
JF  - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
N2  - Perception and evaluation of facial expressions are known to be heavily modulated by emotional features of contextual information. Such contextual effects, however, might also be driven by non-emotional aspects of contextual information, an interaction of emotional and non-emotional factors, and by the observers’ inherent traits. Therefore, we sought to assess whether contextual information about self-reference in addition to information about valence influences the evaluation and neural processing of neutral faces. Furthermore, we investigated whether social anxiety moderates these effects. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed neutral facial expressions preceded by a contextual sentence conveying either positive or negative evaluations about the participant or about somebody else. Contextual influences were reflected in rating and fMRI measures, with strong effects of self-reference on brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and right fusiform gyrus. Additionally, social anxiety strongly affected the response to faces conveying negative, self-related evaluations as revealed by the participants’ rating patterns and brain activity in cortical midline structures and regions of interest in the left and right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that face perception and processing are highly individual processes influenced by emotional and non-emotional aspects of contextual information and further modulated by individual personality traits.
KW  - social anxiety
KW  - facial expression
KW  - context
KW  - self-reference
Y1  - 2013
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-132126
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
A1  - Gerdes, Antje B. M.
A1  - Reicherts, Philipp
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Mutual influences of pain and emotional face processing
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - The perception of unpleasant stimuli enhances whereas the perception of pleasant stimuli decreases pain perception. In contrast, the effects of pain on the processing of emotional stimuli are much less known. Especially given the recent interest in facial expressions of pain as a special category of emotional stimuli, a main topic in this research line is the mutual influence of pain and facial expression processing. Therefore, in this mini-review we selectively summarize research on the effects of emotional stimuli on pain, but more extensively turn to the opposite direction namely how pain influences concurrent processing of affective stimuli such as facial expressions. Based on the motivational priming theory one may hypothesize that the perception of pain enhances the processing of unpleasant stimuli and decreases the processing of pleasant stimuli. This review reveals that the literature is only partly consistent with this assumption: pain reduces the processing of pleasant pictures and happy facial expressions, but does not – or only partly – affect processing of unpleasant pictures. However, it was demonstrated that pain selectively enhances the processing of facial expressions if these are pain-related (i.e., facial expressions of pain). Extending a mere affective modulation theory, the latter results suggest pain-specific effects which may be explained by the perception-action model of empathy. Together, these results underscore the important mutual influence of pain and emotional face processing.
KW  - emotion
KW  - facial expression
KW  - ERPs
KW  - perception-action
KW  - pain
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-118446
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 5
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mitschke, Vanessa
A1  - Eder, Andreas B.
T1  - Facing the enemy: Spontaneous facial reactions towards suffering opponents
JF  - Psychophysiology
N2  - The suffering of an opponent is an important social affective cue that modulates how aggressive interactions progress. To investigate the affective consequences of opponent suffering on a revenge seeking individual, two experiments (total N = 82) recorded facial muscle activity while participants observed the reaction of a provoking opponent to a (retaliatory) sound punishment in a laboratory aggression task. Opponents reacted via prerecorded videos either with facial displays of pain, sadness, or neutrality. Results indicate that participants enjoyed seeing the provocateur suffer: indexed by a coordinated muscle response featuring an increase in zygomaticus major (and orbicularis oculi muscle) activation accompanied by a decrease in corrugator supercilii activation. This positive facial reaction was only shown while a provoking opponent expressed pain. Expressions of sadness, and administration of sound blasts to nonprovoking opponents, did not modulate facial activity. Overall, the results suggest that revenge-seeking individuals enjoy observing the offender suffer, which could represent schadenfreude or satisfaction of having succeeded in the retaliation goal.
KW  - suffering
KW  - facial electromyography
KW  - facial expression
KW  - reactive aggression
KW  - revenge
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259672
VL  - 58
IS  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Seibt, Beate
A1  - Mühlberger, Andreas
A1  - Likowski, Katja U.
A1  - Weyers, Peter
T1  - Facial mimicry in its social setting
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - In interpersonal encounters, individuals often exhibit changes in their own facial expressions in response to emotional expressions of another person. Such changes are often called facial mimicry. While this tendency first appeared to be an automatic tendency of the perceiver to show the same emotional expression as the sender, evidence is now accumulating that situation, person, and relationship jointly determine whether and for which emotions such congruent facial behavior is shown. We review the evidence regarding the moderating influence of such factors on facial mimicry with a focus on understanding the meaning of facial responses to emotional expressions in a particular constellation. From this, we derive recommendations for a research agenda with a stronger focus on the most common forms of encounters, actual interactions with known others, and on assessing potential mediators of facial mimicry. We conclude that facial mimicry is modulated by many factors: attention deployment and sensitivity, detection of valence, emotional feelings, and social motivations. We posit that these are the more proximal causes of changes in facial mimicry due to changes in its social setting.
KW  - cultural differences
KW  - political leaders
KW  - mimicry
KW  - cooperation
KW  - self-focused attention
KW  - emotional empathy
KW  - nonconscious mimicry
KW  - expressive displays
KW  - gender differences
KW  - speech anxiety
KW  - behavior
KW  - responses
KW  - facial expression
KW  - EMG
KW  - competition
KW  - mood
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-151415
VL  - 6
IS  - 1122
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wieser, Mattias J.
A1  - Brosch, Tobias
T1  - Faces in context: A review and systematization of contextual influences on affective face processing
N2  - Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals’ emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant “basic emotion” approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, auto- matic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, de-contextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual’s face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social infor- mation gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias.Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual vari- ables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at (1) systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and (2) summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of auto- matic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in future research.
KW  - Psychologie
KW  - facial expression
KW  - face perception
KW  - emotion
KW  - context
KW  - “basic emotion”
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-76351
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
T1  - Der Einfluss von emotionalem Gesichtsausdruck und Blickkontakt auf visuelle Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit - Empirische Studien zu Augenbewegungen und Peripherphysiologie
T1  - The influence of facial expression and gaze contact on visual attention in social anxiety - Empirical evidence from eyetracking and physiological data
N2  - Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit war der Einfluss von emotionalem Gesichtsausdruck und wahrgenommener Blickrichtung auf die visuelle Aufmerksamkeitsausrichtung bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit. Dabei wurde zum einen die so genannte Hypervigilanz-Vermeidungs-Hypothese getestet (Experimente 1 und 2), wonach Hoch-Sozialängstliche (HSÄ) Personen ärgerliche Gesichter initial häufiger anschauen und im weiteren Verlauf vermeiden. Zum anderen wurde überprüft, ob soziale Ängstlichkeit mit einem Vermeiden von Blickkontakt und gleichzeitiger erhöhter physiologischer Erregung assoziiert ist (Experiment 3). Im ersten Experiment wurde das experimentelle Design zur Messung der visuellen Aufmerksamkeitsausrichtung mittels Eye-Tracking etabliert. HSÄ zeigten beim Betrachten zweier gleichzeitig präsentierter Gesichter (emotional vs. neutral) eine Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrung für emotionale Gesichter, die allerdings noch durch das Geschlecht moduliert wurde. HSÄ schauten initial vor allem häufiger auf weibliche freundliche und auf männliche ärgerliche Gesichter. Außerdem tendierten HSÄ dazu, emotionale Gesichter zwischen 1 s und 1.5 s nach Bild-Onset weniger lange anzuschauen, was auf ein Vermeidungsverhalten hindeuten könnte. Im zweiten Experiment wurde dieses Paradigma um eine emotionale Antisakkadenaufgabe erweitert, mit der die willentliche Inhibition der reflexiven Aufmerksamkeitsausrichtung auf soziale Stimuli überprüft werden sollte. Außerdem erfolgte hier eine Selektion von Probanden anhand der Fragebogenscores in einem Screening zur sozialen Ängstlichkeit, um extremere Gruppen zu erhalten. HSÄ zeigten in der freien Bildbetrachtung einen initialen Aufmerksamkeitsbias für freundliche Gesichter und mehr Fehler in der Antisakkadenaufgabe auf alle Gesichtsausdrücke, was auf eine generell verminderte Fähigkeit, die reflexive Aufmerksamkeit auf soziale Stimuli willentlich zu hemmen, hinweist. Die Befunde deuten zum einen auf einen Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrung hin zu freundlichen Gesichtern bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit hin, was als Konsequenz eine Modifizierung der Hypervigilanz-Vermeidungs-Hypothese notwendig erscheinen lässt. Zum anderen zeigen die Ergebnisse der Antisakkadenaufgabe, dass soziale Ängstlichkeit möglicherweise mit einer grundsätzlich verminderten Aufmerksamkeitskontrolle auf soziale Stimuli assoziiert ist. Im dritten Experiment wurden dynamische Videos von Gesichtern eingesetzt, um die Vermeidungsreaktion auf direkten Blickkontakt bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit zu untersuchen. Zusätzlich wurden die Herzraten- (HR) und Hautleitfähigkeitsreaktion (SCR) als Maße autonomer Aktivierung erhoben. Auch hier wurden anhand eines Screenings gebildete Gruppen untersucht. HSÄ zeigten eine verstärkte HR-Akzeleration auf direkten Blick, was als defensive Reaktion gedeutet werden kann, wie sie bei ängstlichen Probanden häufig in Reaktion auf phobie-relevante Stimuli auftritt. Direkter Blick könnte also tatsächlich ein Angst auslösender Stimulus bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit sein, allerdings resultiert dies nicht zwangsläufig in Vermeidung von Blickkontakt. Zusammen deuten die vorliegenden Studien daraufhin, dass sowohl emotionaler Ausdruck als auch Blickrichtung kritische Variable bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit sind. Weitergehende Untersuchungen sollten insbesondere die Wirkung der Interaktion dieser beiden Variablen auf die visuelle Aufmerksamkeitsausrichtung bei sozialer Ängstlichkeit untersuchen.
N2  - In three studies, the influence of facial expressions and perceived gaze direction on visual attention in social anxiety was investigated. In studies 1 & 2, it was tested whether high socially anxious persons (HSA) show a hypervigilance-avoidance pattern of attentional deployment in response to angry faces. In study 3, the gaze behaviour and the physiological arousal in response to averted or direct gaze was investigated in socially anxious participants. In study 1, the experimental design to investigate visual attention through infra-red eye tracking was successfully established. Watching two simultaneously presented faces (emotional vs. neutral), high socially anxious persons showed an initial attentional bias toward emotional (angry and happy) faces, which was further modulated by the sex of the shown face. HSA initially looked more frequently at male angry and female happy faces. Furthermore, they tended to look less long at emotional facial expressions between 1 to 1.5 s after picture onset, which may indicate avoidance of emotional facial expressions. In study 2, in addition to this passive viewing task, participants had to perform an emotional antisaccade task, which was developed to investigate the attentional control of participants in response to social stimuli. Furthermore, the selection of participants was based on their scores in a questionnaire on social anxiety which were obtained in a screening procedure before the experiment. In the passive viewing task, HSA showed an initial attentional bias towards happy facial expressions. In the antisaccade task, HSA made more errors to perform a correct antisaccade in response to all facial expressions indicating an impaired inhibition of the reflexive orienting to social stimuli. These findings point at an attentional bias for happy facial expressions, which consequently seems to necessitate a modification of the hypervigilance-avoidance hypothesis. The results of the antisaccade task may indicate a diminished attentional control in socially anxious persons. In study 3, dynamic videos of faces were used to investigate the avoidance behaviour of socially anxious participants in response to direct gaze. In addition, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were obtained to measure autonomic arousal. Similar to study 2, three groups were selected based on their scores in a questionnaire on social anxiety obtained in a screening procedure. HSA showed an enhanced HR acceleration in response to direct gaze, which indicates a phobic defensive reaction. However, direct gaze was not avoided by HSA as the eye tracking data revealed. In sum, the results of these three studies show that facial expressions as well as perceived gaze direction are critical features in social anxiety. Further research should examine the effects of the interplay of these two variables on visual attention and avoidance in social anxiety.
KW  - Visuelle Aufmerksamkeit
KW  - soziale Ängstlichkeit
KW  - Gesichtsausdrücke
KW  - Blickkontakt
KW  - Eye-Tracking
KW  - visual attention
KW  - sozial anxiety
KW  - facial expression
KW  - gaze contact
KW  - eye-tracking
Y1  - 2007
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-25732
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weiß, Martin
A1  - Hein, Grit
A1  - Hewig, Johannes
T1  - Between joy and sympathy: Smiling and sad recipient faces increase prosocial behavior in the dictator game
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
N2  - In human interactions, the facial expression of a bargaining partner may contain relevant information that affects prosocial decisions. We were interested in whether facial expressions of the recipient in the dictator game influence dictators´ ehavior. To test this, we conducted an online study (n = 106) based on a modified version of a dictator game. The dictators allocated money between themselves and another person (recipient), who had no possibility to respond to the dictator.
Importantly, before the allocation decision, the dictator was presented with the facial expression of the recipient (angry, disgusted, sad, smiling, or neutral). The results showed that dictators sent more money to recipients with sad or smiling facial expressions and less to recipients with angry or disgusted facial expressions compared with a neutral facial expression. Moreover, based on the sequential analysis of the decision and the interaction partner in the preceding trial, we found that decision-making depends upon previous interactions.
KW  - emotional influence
KW  - dictator game
KW  - facial expression
KW  - social decision-making
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241106
VL  - 18
IS  - 11
ER  -