10B. Seeing the negative in the neutral: Effects of anxiety and depression on perceptions of neutral faces

Lead Presenter(s)

Elisabeth Bolton

Abstract or Description

People tend to perceive neutral faces as negative, especially during eye contact. However, people with anxiety and depression who tend to have a negative interpretation bias, such that they see more negativity in ambiguous stimuli, may see neutral faces as more negative. This interpretation bias may also amplify the effect of eye contact making neutral faces appear even more negative during eye contact. In this study, we will examine how the severity of anxiety and depression affect the perception of neutral faces during and without eye contact. We will recruit 200 college students and measure their anxiety (BAI) and depression (CES-D) symptoms. Participants will watch short videos of actors posing neutral faces. In some of the videos, the actors made eye contact with the camera while in others they looked slightly away. We’ll ask participants how they perceive the actor to be feeling and how much they think they would like the actor. We predict that the participants with anxiety and depression will perceive more negative affect in neutral faces. We further expect that people will perceive more negative affect in neutral faces during eye contact, and that this effect will be stronger for people with anxiety and depression. 

Mentor

Jeff Larsen