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Don't look at me in anger! Enhanced processing of angry faces in anticipation of public speaking
Author(s) -
Wieser Matthias J.,
Pauli Paul,
Reicherts Philipp,
Mühlberger Andreas
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00938.x
Subject(s) - psychology , anger , anticipation (artificial intelligence) , anxiety , perception , facial expression , public speaking , negativity effect , event related potential , cognitive psychology , electroencephalography , social psychology , communication , linguistics , neuroscience , philosophy , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science
Anxiety is supposed to enhance the processing of threatening information. Here, we investigated the cortical processing of angry faces during anticipated public speaking. To elicit anxiety, a group of participants was told that they would have to perform a public speech. As a control condition, another group was told that they would have to write a short essay. During anticipation of these tasks, participants saw facial expressions (angry, happy, and neutral) while electroencephalogram was recorded. Event‐related potential analysis revealed larger N170 amplitudes for angry compared to happy and neutral faces in the anxiety group. The early posterior negativity as an index of motivated attention was also enhanced for angry compared to happy and neutral faces in participants anticipating public speaking. These results indicate that fear of public speaking influences early perceptual processing of faces such that especially the processing of angry faces is facilitated.