Sensitivity and response bias in non-clinical social anxiety to detect changes in facial expressions

Background and objectives

Previous research has not established a consensus on the ability of higher socially anxious individuals to detect facial expressions. The purpose of this study was to examine this issue using Signal Detection Theory (SDT) as a framework.

Methods

Participants with higher levels of social anxiety (HSA) and lower levels of social anxiety (LSA) were instructed to complete a change-detection task. Prototypical (faces with congruent eyes and mouth, i.e., happy eyes and a smiling mouth) and blended (faces with incongruent eyes and mouth, i.e., neutral eyes and a happy mouth) facial expressions were used as stimuli. Participants had to decide whether the facial expression indicated by the cue was "the same" or "different".

Results

The results revealed that the HSA group had a higher sensitivity (d’) to detect changes in facial expressions compared to the LSA group. The LSA group had a higher d’ to detect prototypical angry expressions than to blended angry expressions. However, this difference was not found in the HSA group. In addition, the HSA group displayed more leniency in judging angry expressions as being the same compared to the LSA group.

Limitations

The external validity of the study is limited by the sample (low levels of depression, mostly male).

Conclusions

Higher socially anxious individuals are more sensitive in detecting changes and are more lenient in judging changes in angry expressions.