Abstract
State anxiety appears to influence facial emotion processing (Attwood et al. 2017 R. Soc. Open Sci. 4, 160855). We aimed to (i) replicate these findings and (ii) investigate the role of trait anxiety, in an experiment with healthy UK participants (N = 48, 50% male, 50% high trait anxiety). High and low state anxiety were induced via inhalations of 7.5% carbon dioxide enriched air and medical air, respectively. High state anxiety reduced global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.01, ), but it did not affect interpretation bias towards perceiving anger in ambiguous angry–happy facial morphs (p = 0.18, ). We found no clear evidence of a relationship between trait anxiety and global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.60, ) or interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (p = 0.83, ). However, there was greater interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (i.e. away from happiness) during heightened state anxiety, among individuals with high trait anxiety (p = 0.03, dz = 0.33). State anxiety appears to impair emotion recognition accuracy, and among individuals with high trait anxiety, it appears to increase biases towards perceiving anger (away from happiness). Trait anxiety alone does not appear to be associated with facial emotion processing.
Highlights
Facial expressions of emotion are, in part at least, innate and universal [1,2], and the ability to accurately recognize these nonverbal cues is vital for successful social interactions [3]
We aimed to extend these findings by investigating the association of trait anxiety with facial emotion processing, and 12 whether trait anxiety moderates any effects of state anxiety
We failed to replicate the main effect of state anxiety on interpretation bias towards perceiving anger
Summary
Facial expressions of emotion are, in part at least, innate and universal [1,2], and the ability to accurately recognize these nonverbal cues is vital for successful social interactions [3]. By signalling socially salient information such as fear, acceptance or threat [1], and an individual’s behavioural intentions, facial expressions of emotion can activate approach or avoidance behaviour in the observer [4]. Deficits or biases in emotion 2 processing, such as inaccurate emotion recognition or a tendency to perceive negativity in facial expressions, are associated with social, emotional and behavioural problems [6] and psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
