阅读严肃文学小说对脸部情绪识别的影响——ERP证据

该研究采用事件相关电位(ERP)观察了被试在识别积极、中性和消极的脸部情绪时,在大脑颞枕部电极点上引发的N170效应,来探索阅读严肃文学小说是否会影响人对他人情绪的反应。阅读组被试在两次脸部情绪识别测试之间阅读严肃文学小说,而对照组没有。第二次测试相比第一次测试,N170的幅度增大,但是阅读严肃文学小说会抑制N170幅度增益,且对情绪越积极的刺激图片抑制越大。据此,阅读对他人脸部情绪的识别确有影响。研究推测阅读可能抑制大脑中的脸部情绪特异性,进而可能提高对脸部情绪的感知力。

Reading Literary Fiction Affects Face Emotion Recognition: An ERP Evidence

In this study, positive, neutral and negative facial emotions were presented to subjects. The N170, an event-related potential (ERP) component aroused around the temporal occipital and related to the perception of facial emotions was recorded in order to explore the effect of reading literary fiction on facial emotion recognition. The reading group read literary fiction between two sections of facial emotion recognition tests, while the control group did not. Compared with the first section, the amplitude of N170 in the second section increased. However, reading process appeared to suppress the amplitude growth of N170. Moreover, the more positive the facial emotion of the stimuli was, the more the suppression effect was. Based on these evidences, reading indeed affects facial emotion recognition. The current study speculated that reading may inhibit facial emotion specificity in the brain, thereby possibly improve the perception of facial emotions.