ISSN: 2573-1734
Authors: Fichtenholtz HM , Russell B , Lawrence D and Morgan CA*
Background: Gaze direction and emotional expression are used in social contexts to direct visuospatial attention to salient features of the environment. The attentional focus and motivational state of another individual can be discerned in part by interpreting his or her communicative facial cues. The goal of the present study was to characterize the effects of realistic acute stress on attentional orienting to social cues. Methods: Participants were tested before and during military survival school training. During the task, participants were shown faces at fixation that concurrently displayed dynamic gaze shifts and expression changes from neutral to fearful or happy emotions. Military-relevant targets subsequently appeared in the periphery and were spatially congruent or incongruent with the gaze direction. Reaction time data was analyzed using a 2 (Testing Session: baseline, stress) x 2 (Expression: fearful, happy) x 2 (Target Emotion: positive, negative) x 2 (Gaze Direction: left, right) x 2 (Target Location: left, right) repeated measures ANOVA. Findings: Participants showed faster responses during fearful face trials during the high stress condition compared to baseline, while the response on happy face trials did not change. Additionally, enhanced performance was related to self report reappraisal usage during emotion regulation at baseline. Reaction times to threatening targets were faster on validly cued trials during both tests. Trials with safe targets showed no differences at baseline. Discussion/Impact/Recommendations: These results suggest that acute stress plays a role in how individuals evaluate potentially threatening targets. The present findings provide insight into why and how individuals differ in their response to fearful cues
Keywords: Facial Affect; Shared Attention; Stress; Emotion Regulation