Abstract
There is some evidence that faces with a happy expression are recognized better than faces with other expressions. However, little is known about whether this happy-face advantage also applies to perceptual face matching, and whether similar differences exist among other expressions. Using a sequential matching paradigm, we systematically compared the effects of seven basic facial expressions on identity recognition. Identity matching was quickest when a pair of faces had an identical happy/sad/neutral expression, poorer when they had a fearful/surprise/angry expression, and poorest when they had a disgust expression. Faces with a happy/sad/fear/surprise expression were matched faster than those with an anger/disgust expression when the second face in a pair had a neutral expression. These results demonstrate that effects of facial expression on identity recognition are not limited to happy-faces when a learned face is immediately tested. The results suggest different influences of expression in perceptual matching and long-term recognition memory.
Highlights
Most studies on face recognition have employed images of faces displaying a neutral expression
We attempt to address the following new questions about the way facial expressions influence identity recognition: first, apart from the happy expression advantage, are there any differences among other basic categories of expression for identity recognition? Second, given that the happy-face advantage for unfamiliar faces has mainly been reported in recognition memory tasks, can the effect be generalized to perceptual matching, that does not involve long-term memory? Lastly, we ask whether the happy-face and any other expression advantages for identity recognition are best explained by emotional valence or by its special physical features
The effects were found in both accuracy and reaction time measures when the pair of faces was shown in the same pose
Summary
Most studies on face recognition have employed images of faces displaying a neutral expression. A study by Levy and Bentin (2008; Experiment 2) assessed the effect of facial expression on identity matching, but only employed two expressions (happiness and disgust) They found no difference between results of the two. After quantifying the changes in the configuration of facial features (i.e., mouth, nose, eyes, and eyebrows) associated with different facial expressions, Johnston et al (2001) noted that happy expressions contain relatively less overlapping changes with other emotional expressions This observation is consistent with results of computational studies, where face representations with a smile were found to create finer discrimination among faces (Yacoob and Davis, 2002; Li et al, 2008). Given that the happy-face advantage for unfamiliar faces has mainly been reported in recognition memory tasks, can the effect be generalized to perceptual matching, that does not involve long-term memory?
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