Static and Dynamic Presentation of Emotions in Different Facial Areas: Fear and Surprise Show Influences of Temporal and Spatial Properties

Abstract

For the presentation of facially expressed emotions in experimental settings a sound knowledge about stimulus properties is pivotal. We hence conducted two experiments to investigate the influence of temporal (static versus dynamic) and spatial (upper versus lower half of the face) properties of facial emotion stimuli on recognition accuracy. In the first experiment, different results were found for the six emotions examined (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise). Fear and surprise were more accurately recognized when using dynamic stimuli. In the second experiment using only dynamic presentations, recognition rates between upper and lower face varied significantly for most emotions with fear and happiness only being detectable in the upper or lower half respectively. The results suggest an emotion-specific effect for the importance of the facial area.

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Hoffmann, H. , Traue, H. , Limbrecht-Ecklundt, K. , Walter, S. & Kessler, H. (2013). Static and Dynamic Presentation of Emotions in Different Facial Areas: Fear and Surprise Show Influences of Temporal and Spatial Properties. Psychology, 4, 663-668. doi: 10.4236/psych.2013.48094.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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