Representation of Facial Expressions of Emotion

Abstract

Inversion interferes with the encoding of configural and holistic information more than it does with the encoding of explicitly represented and isolated parts. Accordingly, if facial expressions are explicitly represented in the face representation, their recognition should not be greatly affected by face orientation. In the present experiment, response times to detect a difference in hair color in line-drawn faces were unaffected by face orientation, but response times to detect the presence of brows and mouth were longer with inverted than with upright faces, independent of the emergent expression (neutral, happy, sad, and angry). Expressions are not explicitly represented; rather, they and the face configuration are represented as undecomposed wholes.