Exploring the effect of emotional context on memory and judgement for facial identity

Abstract

Research continues to show an influence of emotional signals on memory as well as differences in learning due to context. Despite this, little research explores the way that emotional context affects memory and judgement of facial expressions. Faces are processed within a wide range of contexts yet studies have so far failed to consider surrounding environment. Instead, they typically present faces in isolation hence, failing to encapsulate the true nature of social interactions. For this reason, the current study used a more ecological design in which 24 participants learnt faces within an emotional context (conveyed by a ring of either happy or angry faces). After a 24-hour delay, these participants were then asked to judge the faces on measures of trustworthiness, extraversion, aggressiveness and friendliness. Results showed little effects of context-dependant learning, both on facial recognition and judgement. Female participants rated faces learnt within a happy context as friendlier than those learnt within an angry context. However, no other effects were noted. Nonetheless, insights into sex differences in facial recognition and judgements for facial identity were gained. Female faces were recognised more accurately and more quickly than male faces. Furthermore, they were consistently perceived as friendlier and less self-confident than male faces. Opportunities for future research are discussed, including the potential inclusion of sex differences when investigating emotional influences on memory and judgement for faces.