Facial Emotion Perception Research Articles

Impact of Bell's palsy in facial emotion recognition: a prospective observational study of 60 patients.

Patients with Bell's palsy suffer from functional deficits and cannot convey their emotions through the face as well as they used to. According to embodied cognition, automatic mimicry and facial feedback modulate emotion perception. The aim of our study was to determine the impact of Bell's palsy on facial emotion perception. Facial motor skills, the use of botulinum toxin injections, and anxiety were studied. 60 patients completed Emotest-VA, an assessment tool of facial emotion perception, facial motor assessment and affective questionnaires. Facial perception scores of patients were compared to the normative data provided by Emotest-VA. Relationships between facial motor skills, anxiety and perceptual abilities were carried out with Pearson's correlations. Perception accuracy scores were abnormal in 12% of patients. Patients were more ambiguous than normative population to perceive emotion (t(23) = 4.14, p < .001). Happiness arousal was negatively correlated to smile asymmetry (n = 60, r=-.294 p = .022). Patients who received botulinum toxin were more accurate to perceive disgust (Z = 3.60, p < .001). State anxiety decreased when patients could improve their horizontal smile (r = - 440, p < .001). Bell's palsy impaired sensorimotor simulation, thereby reducing emotional contagion. Smile measures could indicate patients' recovery and patients' anxiety. It could also predict patient's perceptual abilities. These results provide new directions in the management of Bell's palsy. Additionally to physical therapy, it is relevant to improve emotional contagion both in its productive and perceptive aspects through facial feedback.

Cross-channel adaptation reveals shared emotion representation from face and biological motion.

Emotions in interpersonal interactions can be communicated simultaneously via various social signals such as face and biological motion (BM). Here, we demonstrate that even though BM and face are very different in visual properties, emotions conveyed by these two types of social signals involve dedicated and common processing mechanisms (N = 168, college students, 2020-2024). By utilizing the visual adaptation paradigm, we found that prolonged exposure to the happy BM biased the emotion perception of the subsequently presented morphed BM toward sad, and vice versus. The observed aftereffect disappeared when the BM adaptors were shown inverted, indicating that it arose from emotional information processing rather than being a result of adaptation to constitutive low-level features. Besides, such an aftereffect was also found for facial expressions and similarly vanished when the face adaptors were inverted. Critically, preexposure to emotional faces also exerted an adaptation aftereffect on the emotion perception of BMs. Furthermore, this cross-channel effect could not only happen from faces to BMs but also from BMs to faces, suggesting that emotion perception from face and BM are potentially driven by common underlying neural substrates. Overall, these findings highlighted a close coupling of BM and face emotion perception and suggested the existence of a dedicated emotional representation that can be shared across these two different types of social signals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Distinct neural correlates of accuracy and bias in the perception of facial emotion expressions

ABSTRACT We investigated neural correlates of Emotion Recognition Accuracy (ERA) using the Assessment of Contextualized Emotions (ACE). ACE infuses context by presenting emotion expressions in a naturalistic group setting and distinguishes between accurately perceiving intended emotions (signal), and bias due to perceiving additional, secondary emotions (noise). This social perception process is argued to induce perspective taking in addition to pattern matching in ERA. Thirty participants were presented with an fMRI-compatible adaptation of the ACE consisting of blocks of neutral and emotional faces in single and group-embedded settings. Participants rated the central character’s expressions categorically or using scalar scales in consequent fMRI scans. Distinct brain activations were associated with the perception of emotional vs. neutral faces in the four conditions. Moreover, accuracy and bias scores from the original ACE task performed on another day were associated with brain activation during the scalar (vs. categorical) condition for emotional (vs. neutral) faces embedded in group. These findings suggest distinct cognitive mechanisms linked to each type of emotional rating and highlight the importance of considering cognitive bias in the assessment of social emotion perception.

Altered emotion perception in insomnia, anxiety, depression, mania, psychotic experiences and schizotypal symptoms: a dataset

This data resource provides evidence concerning the prevalence of perceptual alterations of emotional faces amongst individuals experiencing symptoms of insomnia, anxiety, depression, mania, psychotic experiences, and schizotypal tendencies. More specifically, we explored the categorisation accuracy (whether the displayed emotion was correctly identified), misperception (which emotion an incorrect judgment was perceived to be), intensity (extent of the emotion signal strength) and emotional valence (the extent and direction of perceived affect) of six facial expressions of emotion from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces database. Complete data from N = 572 respondents are included. The dataset is available to other researchers and is provided on Figshare. Information concerning the data records, usage notes, code availability and technical validation are presented. Finally, we present demographic and correlational data concerning psychiatric symptoms and alterations in the perception of emotional faces.

Individual differences in interoception and autistic traits share altered facial emotion perception, but not recognition per se

While alterations in both physiological responses to others’ emotions as well as interoceptive abilities have been identified in autism, their relevance in altered emotion recognition is largely unknown. We here examined the role of interoceptive ability, facial mimicry, and autistic traits in facial emotion processing in non-autistic individuals. In an online Experiment 1, participants (N = 99) performed a facial emotion recognition task, including ratings of perceived emotional intensity and confidence in emotion recognition, and reported on trait interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive sensibility and autistic traits. In a follow-up lab Experiment 2 involving 100 participants, we replicated the online experiment and additionally investigated the relationship between facial mimicry (measured through electromyography), cardiac interoceptive accuracy (evaluated using a heartbeat discrimination task), and autistic traits in relation to emotion processing. Across experiments, neither interoception measures nor facial mimicry accounted for a reduced recognition of specific expressions with higher autistic traits. Higher trait interoceptive accuracy was rather associated with more confidence in correct recognition of some expressions, as well as with higher ratings of their perceived emotional intensity. Exploratory analyses indicated that those higher intensity ratings might result from a stronger integration of instant facial muscle activations, which seem to be less integrated in intensity ratings with higher autistic traits. Future studies should test whether facial muscle activity, and physiological signals in general, are correspondingly less predictive of perceiving emotionality in others in individuals on the autism spectrum, and whether training interoceptive abilities might facilitate the interpretation of emotional expressions.

Fear is more right lateralized than happiness and anger: Evidence for the motivational hypothesis of emotional face perception?

ABSTRACT Facial emotion processing (FEP) tends to be right hemisphere lateralized. This right-hemispheric bias (RHB) for FEP varies within and between individuals. The aim of the present research was to examine evidence pertaining to the prominent theories of FEP hemispheric bias as measured by a half-emotional half-neutral (no emotion) chimeric faces task. FEP hemispheric bias was indexed using laterality quotients (LQs) calculated from a Chimeric Faces Task completed by 427 adults recruited from the general population aged 18–67 years. Participants indicated which of two identical (but mirrored) emotional-neutral chimeric faces were more emotive. While all investigated emotions (fear, anger, and happiness) were right lateralized, fear was significantly more right lateralized than anger and happiness. These results provide evidence for both the right hemisphere hypothesis and the motivational hypothesis of emotion perception.

Emotional anticipation for dynamic emotional faces is not modulated by schizotypal traits: A Representational Momentum study.

Schizotypy, a personality structure that resembles schizophrenia symptoms, is often associated with abnormal facial emotion perception. Based on the prevailing sense of threat in psychotic experiences, and the immediate perceptual history of seeing others' facial expressions, individuals with high schizotypal traits may exhibit a heightened tendency to anticipate anger. To test this, we used insights from Representational Momentum (RM), a perceptual phenomenon in which the endpoint of a dynamic event is systematically displaced forward, into the immediate future. Angry-to-ambiguous and happy-to-ambiguous avatar faces were presented, each followed by a probe with the same (ambiguous) expression as the endpoint, or one slightly changed to express greater happiness/anger. Participants judged if the probe was "equal" to the endpoint and rated how confident they were. The sample was divided into high (N = 46) and low (N = 49) schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). First, a forward bias was found in happy-to-ambiguous faces, suggesting emotional anticipation solely for dynamic faces changing towards a potential threat (anger). This may reflect an adaptative mechanism, as it is safer to anticipate any hostility from a conspecific than the opposite. Second, contrary to our hypothesis, high schizotypal traits did not heighten RM for happy-to-ambiguous faces, nor did they lead to overconfidence in biased judgements. This may suggest a typical pattern of emotional anticipation in non-clinical schizotypy, but caution is needed due to the use of self-report questionnaires, university students, and a modest sample size. Future studies should also investigate if the same holds for clinical manifestations of schizophrenia.

Alexithymia modulates emotion concept activation during facial expression processing.

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in emotional information processing. However, the underlying reasons for emotional processing deficits in alexithymia are not fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying emotional deficits in alexithymia. Using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, we recruited college students with high alexithymia (n = 24) or low alexithymia (n = 24) in this study. Participants judged the emotional consistency of facial expressions and contextual sentences while recording their event-related potentials. Behaviorally, the high alexithymia group showed longer response times versus the low alexithymia group in processing facial expressions. The event-related potential results showed that the high alexithymia group had more negative-going N400 amplitudes compared with the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. More negative N400 amplitudes are also associated with slower responses to facial expressions. Furthermore, machine learning analyses based on N400 amplitudes could distinguish the high alexithymia group from the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. Overall, these findings suggest worse facial emotion perception for the high alexithymia group, potentially due to difficulty in spontaneously activating emotion concepts. Our findings have important implications for the affective science and clinical intervention of alexithymia-related affective disorders.

Facial emotion processing in patients with borderline personality disorder as compared with healthy controls: an fMRI and ECG study

BackgroundMaladaptive behaviors and interpersonal difficulties in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) seem connected to biased facial emotion processing. This bias is often accompanied by heightened amygdala activity in patients with BPD as compared to healthy controls. However, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies exploring differences between patients and healthy controls in facial emotion processing have produced divergent results. The current study explored fMRI and heart rate variability (HRV) correlates of negative facial emotion processing in patients with BPD and healthy controls.MethodsThe study included 30 patients with BPD (29 females; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 females; M = 24.66, SD = 5.28). All participants underwent the “faces” task, an emotional face perception task, in an fMRI session simultaneously with ECG. In this task, participants are presented with emotional expressions of disgust, sadness, and fear (as a negative condition) and with the same pictures in a scrambled version (as a neutral condition).ResultsWe found no differences in brain activity between patients with BPD and healthy controls when processing negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. We observed activation in large-scale brain areas in both groups when presented with negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. Patients with BPD displayed lower HRV than healthy controls in both conditions. However, there were no significant associations between HRV and amygdala activity and BPD symptoms.ConclusionThe results of this study indicate no abnormal brain activity during emotional facial processing in patients with BPD. This result contrasts with previous studies and more studies are needed to clarify the relationship between facial emotion processing and brain activity in patients with BPD. Possible reasons for the absence of brain activity differences are discussed in the study. Consistent with previous findings, patients showed lower HRV than healthy controls. However, HRV was not associated with amygdala activity and BPD symptoms.

Perception and memory-based representations of facial emotions: Associations with personality functioning, affective states and recognition abilities

Personality traits and affective states are associated with biases in facial emotion perception. However, the precise personality impairments and affective states that underlie these biases remain largely unknown. To investigate how relevant factors influence facial emotion perception and recollection, Experiment 1 employed an image reconstruction approach in which community-dwelling adults (N = 89) rated the similarity of pairs of facial expressions, including those recalled from memory. Subsequently, perception- and memory-based expression representations derived from such ratings were assessed across participants and related to measures of personality impairment, state affect, and visual recognition abilities. Impairment in self-direction and level of positive affect accounted for the largest components of individual variability in perception and memory representations, respectively. Additionally, individual differences in these representations were impacted by face recognition ability. In Experiment 2, adult participants (N = 81) rated facial image reconstructions derived in Experiment 1, revealing that individual variability was associated with specific visual face properties, such as expressiveness, representation accuracy, and positivity/negativity. These findings highlight and clarify the influence of personality, affective state, and recognition abilities on individual differences in the perception and recollection of facial expressions.

Sex differences in social cognition among individuals with schizophrenia and in healthy control participants: a secondary analysis of published data

PurposeSex differences are present among individuals experiencing schizophrenia. Whether these differences extend to social cognition is unclear. In this study, we investigated sex differences in emotion perception, social perception and theory of mind (ToM).MethodsWe examined sex differences between males and females with schizophrenia on five social cognitive tests. Healthy male and female control participants were included to examine if any sex difference was illness-specific. Emotion perception was measured with Pictures of Facial Affect (PFA) and Emotion in Biological Motion (EmoBio); social perception with the Relationships Across Domains Test (RAD); and ToM with the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) and Hinting Task.ResultsTwo-way analyses of variance revealed overall group differences for all tests, with healthy controls outperforming individuals with schizophrenia. Significant sex effects were present for PFA and Hinting Task. There were no significant interaction effects. Within-group independent samples t-tests yielded one significant sex difference, i.e., among healthy controls for PFA.ConclusionsFemales had better facial emotion perception than males. This sex difference was statistically significant among healthy controls and medium-large among individuals experiencing schizophrenia. There were no significant sex differences for other social cognitive domains. The study did not find evidence for a general female advantage in social cognition.

How first- and second-language emotion words influence emotion perception in Swedish–English bilinguals

Abstract Emotional experiences are often dulled in one's second language. We tested whether emotion concepts are more strongly associated with first language (L1) than second language (L2) emotion words. Participants (140 L1-Swedish–L2-English bilinguals) saw a facial expression of an emotion (cue) followed by a target, which could either be another facial expression, an L1 emotion word, or an L2 emotion word. Participants indicated whether the cue and target represented the same or different emotions as fast as possible. Participants were faster and more accurate in both the L1 and L2 word conditions compared to the face condition. However, no significant differences emerged between the L1 and L2 word conditions, suggesting that emotion concepts are not more strongly associated with L1 than L2 emotion words. These results replicate prior research showing that L1 emotion words speed facial emotion perception and provide initial evidence that words (not only first language words) shape emotion perception.

Effect of matcha green tea on cognitive functions and sleep quality in older adults with cognitive decline: A randomized controlled study over 12 months.

Lifestyle habits after middle age significantly impact the maintenance of cognitive function in older adults. Nutritional intake is closely related to lifestyle habits; therefore, nutrition is a pivotal factor in the prevention of dementia in the preclinical stages. Matcha green tea powder (matcha), which contains epigallocatechin gallate, theanine, and caffeine, has beneficial effects on cognitive function and mood. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study over 12 months to examine the effect of matcha on cognitive function and sleep quality. Ninety-nine participants, including 64 with subjective cognitive decline and 35 with mild cognitive impairment were randomized, with 49 receiving 2 g of matcha and 50 receiving a placebo daily. Participants were stratified based on two factors: age at baseline and APOE genotype. Changes in cognitive function and sleep quality were analyzed using a mixed-effects model. Matcha consumption led to significant improvements in social acuity score (difference; -1.39, 95% confidence interval; -2.78, 0.002) (P = 0.028) as evaluated by the perception of facial emotions in cognitive function. The primary outcomes, that is, Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study Activity of Daily Living scores, showed no significant changes with matcha intervention. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores indicated a trend toward improvement with a difference of 0.86 (95% confidence interval; -0.002, 1.71) (P = 0.088) between the groups in changes from baseline to 12 months. The present study suggests regular consumption of matcha could improve emotional perception and sleep quality in older adults with mild cognitive decline. Given the widespread availability and cultural acceptance of matcha green tea, incorporating it into the daily routine may offer a simple yet effective strategy for cognitive enhancement and dementia prevention.

A uniform human multimodal dataset for emotion perception and judgment

Face perception is a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, yet most research on this topic has focused on single modalities and specific aspects of face perception. Here, we present a comprehensive multimodal dataset for examining facial emotion perception and judgment. This dataset includes EEG data from 97 unique neurotypical participants across 8 experiments, fMRI data from 19 neurotypical participants, single-neuron data from 16 neurosurgical patients (22 sessions), eye tracking data from 24 neurotypical participants, behavioral and eye tracking data from 18 participants with ASD and 15 matched controls, and behavioral data from 3 rare patients with focal bilateral amygdala lesions. Notably, participants from all modalities performed the same task. Overall, this multimodal dataset provides a comprehensive exploration of facial emotion perception, emphasizing the importance of integrating multiple modalities to gain a holistic understanding of this complex cognitive process. This dataset serves as a key missing link between human neuroimaging and neurophysiology literature, and facilitates the study of neuropsychiatric populations.

6 Why Do Cultures Affect Facial Emotion Perception? - A Systematic Review

Objective:Most emotion perception assessments were developed in western societies using English terms and Caucasian faces, so the extent to which they are cross-culturally valid is in question. To sort this, understanding the mechanisms of cultural variations is the key. In the past half-century, cross-cultural differences in perceiving facial emotions have been consistently reported and discussed, advancing knowledge to feed theoretical and practical interests. However, as these studies are heterogeneous in the questions asked and methods used, without understanding their association, we cannot provide a clear answer to the simple question: why do people from different cultures perceive facial emotions differently? This limitation represents a bottleneck for adapting western clinical assessments cross-culturally to suit the increasing trend of globalisation in research and testing. To address this issue, we conducted a systematic review aiming to reveal the effect of culture on emotion perception from past cross-cultural studies on healthy people. We expected this review to bridge findings in basic research and clinical application.Participants and Methods:The systematic review followed the framework outlined in Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We searched five databases using three groups of keywords. We included all peer-reviewed original studies that 1) conducted cross-cultural comparison in facial emotion perception with healthy adults and 2) used a design that allowed identifying specific mechanisms to explain cultural variations.The qualitative data synthesis included three steps: 1) categorising eligible studies according to the type of cross-cultural differences they investigated, 2) summarising the findings of each cluster, and 3) summarising the mechanisms revealed by the findings.Results:We found the 122 eligible articles clustered into five groups that investigated 1) how race and in-group and out-group status affected facial emotion perception; 2) cultural differences in using context to identify facial expressions; 3) cultural differences in emotion conceptualisation and how they affected facial emotion perception; 4) cultural differences in interpreting facial muscle configurations; 5) how culture interacted with the inference making process.Seven mechanisms underlying cultural variations in facial emotion perception were revealed. These are facial emotion templates, emotion conceptualisation, in/out-group differentiation, information surveying strategies, belief that expressers are independent agents, reliance on the face and other emotion expressing channels, and stereotypes. The relative importance of these factors may depend on the cultures chosen to compare and the situational settings that affect how they work together in real life.Conclusions:This review, for the first time, systematically addresses the mechanisms underlying cross-cultural differences in facial emotion perception. Besides advancing knowledge about this rapidly growing area, it guides what needs to be considered when designing new tests, adapting existing tests, and assessing the risk of bias brought about by cross-cultural issues.

Human emotion processing accuracy, negative biases, and fMRI activation are associated with childhood trauma.

Emerging literature suggests that childhood trauma may influence facial emotion perception (FEP), with the potential to negatively bias both emotion perception and reactions to emotion-related inputs. Negative emotion perception biases are associated with a range of psychiatric and behavioral problems, potentially due or as a result of difficult social interactions. Unfortunately, there is a poor understanding of whether observed negative biases are related to childhood trauma history, depression history, or processes common to (and potentially causative of) both experiences. The present cross-sectional study examines the relation between FEP and neural activation during FEP with retrospectively reported childhood trauma in young adult participants with remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD, n = 41) and without psychiatric histories (healthy controls [HC], n = 34). Accuracy of emotion categorization and negative bias errors during FEP and brain activation were each measured during exposure to fearful, angry, happy, sad, and neutral faces. We examined participant behavioral and neural responses in relation to total reported severity of childhood abuse and neglect (assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ). Results corrected for multiple comparisons indicate that higher trauma scores were associated with greater likelihood of miscategorizing happy faces as angry. Activation in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) positively correlated with trauma scores when participants viewed faces that they correctly categorized as angry, fearful, sad, and happy. Identifying the neural mechanisms by which childhood trauma and MDD may change facial emotion perception could inform targeted prevention efforts for MDD or related interpersonal difficulties.

Research on a New Intelligent and Rapid Screening Method for Depression Risk in Young People Based on Eye Tracking Technology.

Depression is a prevalent mental disorder, with young people being particularly vulnerable to it. Therefore, we propose a new intelligent and rapid screening method for depression risk in young people based on eye tracking technology. We hypothesized that the "emotional perception of eye movement" could characterize defects in emotional perception, recognition, processing, and regulation in young people at high risk for depression. Based on this hypothesis, we designed the "eye movement emotional perception evaluation paradigm" and extracted digital biomarkers that could objectively and accurately evaluate "facial feature perception" and "facial emotional perception" characteristics of young people at high risk of depression. Using stepwise regression analysis, we identified seven digital biomarkers that could characterize emotional perception, recognition, processing, and regulation deficiencies in young people at high risk for depression. The combined effectiveness of an early warning can reach 0.974. Our proposed technique for rapid screening has significant advantages, including high speed, high early warning efficiency, low cost, and high intelligence. This new method provides a new approach to help effectively screen high-risk individuals for depression.

The Impact of the Perception of Primary Facial Emotions on Corticospinal Excitability.

The link between emotional experience and motor body responses has long been acknowledged. A well-established approach to exploring the effect of the perception of emotional stimuli on the motor system is measuring variations in the excitability of the corticospinal tract (CSE) through motor-evoked potentials (MEP) elicited via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Previous evidence has indicated a selective increase in MEP amplitude while participants view emotional stimuli, such as emotional facial expressions, compared to neutral cues. However, it is still not clear whether this effect depends on the specific emotional meaning conveyed by the stimulus. In the present study, we explored whether viewing faces expressing the primary emotions compared to faces with a neutral expression affects individuals' CSE, measured using TMS-elicited MEPs. Specifically, we elicited MEPs from the left motor cortex (M1) while participants passively viewed the same faces expressing either anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise, and no emotion (in different blocks). We found that the observation of fearful, angry, disgusted, and happy facial expressions was associated with a significant increase in the MEPs' amplitude compared to neutral facial expressions, with a comparable enhancement in the CSE occurring across these emotions. In turn, viewing sad and surprised faces did not modulate the CSE. Overall, our findings suggest that only facial expressions that signal (real or potential) danger or a rewarding stimulus, but not emotional facial expressions per se, are capable of activating action-related mechanisms.

Emotional self-body odors do not influence the access to visual awareness by emotional faces.

A growing body of research suggests that emotional chemosignals in others' body odor (BO), particularly those sampled during fearful states, enhance emotional face perception in conscious and preconscious stages. For instance, emotional faces access visual awareness faster when presented with others' fear BOs. However, the effect of these emotional signals in self-BO, that is, one's own BO, is still neglected in the literature. In the present work, we sought to determine whether emotional self-BOs modify the access to visual awareness of emotional faces. Thirty-eight women underwent a breaking-Continuous Flash Suppression task in which they were asked to detect fearful, happy, and neutral faces, as quickly and accurately as possible, while being exposed to their fear, happiness, and neutral self-BOs. Self-BOs were previously collected and later delivered via an olfactometer, using an event-related design. Results showed a main effect of emotional faces, with happy faces being detected significantly faster than fearful and neutral faces. However, our hypothesis that fear self-BOs would lead to faster emotional face detection was not confirmed, as no effect of emotional self-BOs was found-this was confirmed with Bayesian analysis. Although caution is warranted when interpreting these results, our findings suggest that emotional face perception is not modulated by emotional self-BOs, contrasting with the literature on others' BOs. Further research is needed to understand the role of self-BOs in visual processing and emotion perception.

The background assimilation effect: Facial emotional perception is affected by surrounding stimuli.

The perception of facial emotion is not only determined by the physical features of the face itself but also be influenced by the emotional information of the background or surrounding information. However, the details of such effect are not fully understood. Here, the authors tested the perceived emotion of a target face surrounded by stimuli with different levels of emotional valence. In Experiment 1, four types of objects were divided into three groups (negative, unpleasant flowers and unpleasant animals; mildly negative (neutral), houses; positive, pleasant flowers). In Experiment 2, three groups of surrounding faces with different social-emotional valence (negative, neutral, and positive) were formed with the memory of affective personal knowledge. The data from two experiments showed that the perception of facial emotion can be influenced and modulated by the emotional valence of the surrounding stimuli, which can be explained by assimilation: the positive stimuli increased the valence of a target face, while the negative stimuli comparatively decreased it. Furthermore, the neutral stimuli also increased the valence of the target, which could be explained by the social positive effect. Therefore, the process of assimilation is likely to be a high-level emotional cognition rather than a low-level visual perception. The results of this study may help us better understand face perception in realistic scenarios.