Reward Expectation Modulate The Facial Expression Recognition In Natural Scenes

Background information affects the recognition of facial expressions.This process is called the background effect in facial expression recognition.However,the research on how the background influences the recognition process is still uncertain.Some researchers believe that this process is automated and not subject to top-down attention control and some researchers believe that it is non-automated which is regulated by top-down attention control.Based on previous studies,this paper attempts to manipulate reward expectation to examine how the top-down attention control modulates the influence of natural scenes on facial expression recognition.This study included two experiments.This research randomly selected 63 students from Zhengzhou University as experimental subjects.The subjects used in the three experiments were all different.Experiment 1 uses three factors within subjects design with 2(reward conditions: with reward expectation,no reward expectation)× 2(facial expressions: happy,fear)× 2(scene type: happy,fear).Monetary incentive delay is used to investigate the influence of reward condition on the background effect in the process of facial expression recognition based on the natural scene.The dependent variables are the response time and the correct rate.Experiment 2 uses three factors within subjects design with 2(reward level: high,low)× 2(facial expression: happy,fear)× 2(scene type: happy,fear).Monetary incentive delay is used to investigate the influence of reward level on the background effect in the process of facial expression recognition based on the natural scene.The dependent variables were response time and correctness.The result shows that:(1)The reward conditions,facial expressions,and scene types have significant interactions in response to indicators.Under happy scene conditions,the recognition of happy expressions and fear expressions is significantly smaller than the reward-free expectation when there are rewards expected.In the case of fear scenes,recognition of happy expressions,fear expressions,and response times when rewards are expected are significantly smaller than those expected without rewards;(2)The interaction between the scene type and facial expression in the response time and the correct rate of the two dependent variables are significant.Under the fear scene condition,the recognition of the fear expression is shorter than the recognition of the happy expression and the correct rate is high;under the happy scene conditions Recognition of happy expressions is faster and faster than recognition of fear expressions.(3)Significant interactions between reward level and facial expressions in response to indicators,recognition of happy expressions at high reward levels when response times are significantly shorter than low reward levels,recognition of fear expressions at high reward levels.The average time is significantly shorter than the low reward level.The study draws the following conclusions:(1)The reward conditions influence the recognition of facial expressions in natural scenes,and reward expectation promotes the recognition of facial expressions.The reward expectation stimulates top-down attention control and modulates the occurrence of background effects in facial expression recognition,which means the recognition of facial expression in natural scenes is controlled by top-down attention.(2)Face-scene emotional consistency affects the recognition of facial expressions in natural scenes.When face-scene emotions are consistent,natural scene emotion information promotes the recognition of target facial expressions.When face-scene emotions are inconsistent,the natural scene emotion information obstructs the facial expression discrimination.(3)The level of rewards regulates the influence of natural scenes on facial expression recognition.The higher reward level means the stronger of the modulation.(4)The recognition of happy expressions is faster than the identification of fear expressions,showing positive emotional processing advantages.