Media release

From: The Royal Society

Depression expressions – People with depression are more likely to interpret micro changes in expression as negative emotions. Participants (n=349) were shown a series of 20 videos showing ‘micro-expressions’ – fleeting expressions of emotions such as anger or sadness. Those who reported low mood were more likely to interpret neutral micro-expressions as negative and were overall poorer at judging emotions in faces. The findings may help design interventions to support people with low mood. Royal Society Open Science

Relationship between low mood and micro expression processing: evidence of negative bias in interpreting fleeting facial expressions

Depression affects the recognition of emotion in facial expressions by reducing the detection accuracy, and adding a bias toward negativity. However, no study has examined associations between depression and the recognition of micro facial expressions with video images. We investigated associations between low mood and micro expression processing using video stimuli of micro expressions. Our results show that mood affects the perception of emotions in facial expressions, which has the potential to negatively affect interpersonal interactions and ultimately quality of life.