Ecological micro-expression recognition characteristics of young adults with subthreshold depression.

Chuanlin Zhu,Jianxin Zhang,Dianzhi Liu,Ming Yin,Xinyun Chen,Zezhi Li

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0216334

Chuanlin Zhu, Jianxin Zhang + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216334

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Abstract

The micro-expression (ME) processing characteristics of patients with depression has been studied but has not been investigated in people with subthreshold depression. Based on this, by adopting the ecological MEs recognition paradigm, this study aimed to explore ME recognition in people with subthreshold depression. A 4 (background expression: happy, neutral, sad and fearful) × 4 (ME: happy, neutral, sad, and fearful) study was designed; two groups of participants (experimental group with subthreshold depression vs. healthy control group, 32 participants in each group) were asked to complete the ecological ME recognition task, and the corresponding accuracy (ACC) and reaction time (RT) were analyzed. Results: (1) Under different background conditions, recognizing happy MEs had the highest ACC and shortest RT. (2) There was no significant difference in the ACC and RT between experimental and control groups. (3)In different contexts, individuals with subthreshold depression tended to misjudge neutral, sad, and fearful MEs as happy, while neutral MEs were misjudged as sad and fearful. (4) The performance of individuals with subthreshold depression in the ecological ME recognition task were influenced by the type of ME; they showed highest ACC and shortest RT when recognizing happy MEs (vs. the other MEs). Conclusions: (1) The performance of individuals’ ecological ME recognition were influenced by the background expression, and this embodied the need for ecological ME recognition. (2) Individuals with subthreshold depression showed normal ecological ME recognition ability. (3) In terms of misjudgment, individuals with subthreshold depression showed both positive and negative bias, when completing the ecological ME recognition task. (4) Compared with the other MEs, happy MEs showed an advantage recognition effect for individuals with subthreshold depression who completed the ecological ME recognition task.

Highlights

Micro-expressions (MEs) are often defined as facial movements that are only exhibited for a short time and can reveal emotions that individuals attempt to hide[1, 2]
The ACC of recognizing happy ME were minimally influenced by the types of background expressions, to be more specific, the ACC of recognizing happy ME was the highest under different background conditions, which indicated that happy ME was the most recognized
The present study extends the investigation of ME processing from healthy individuals to individuals with subthreshold depression, which contributes to understanding the ecological ME recognition characteristics of different groups

Summary

Introduction

Micro-expressions (MEs) are often defined as facial movements that are only exhibited for a short time and can reveal emotions that individuals attempt to hide[1, 2]. Some researchers suggest that the ME presentation time is shorter than 333 ms[4], while others postulate that the total duration of a ME is less than 500 ms or that its initial presentation is less than 260 ms[2]. Since they are automatic real emotional expressions, MEs are more difficult to control than ordinary expressions[5]. MEs are important cues for detecting deceptive behaviors and revealing true feelings[8]

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