Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
10-2017
Abstract
Using the item-method directed forgetting paradigm (i.e. intentionally forgetting specified information), we examined directed forgetting of facial identity as a function of facial expression and the sex of the expresser and perceiver. Participants were presented with happy and angry male and female faces cued for either forgetting or remembering, and were then asked to recognise previously studied faces from among a series of neutral faces. For each recognised test face, participants also recalled the face’s previously displayed emotional expression. We found that angry faces were more resistant to forgetting than were happy faces. Furthermore, angry expressions on male faces and happy expressions on female faces were recognised and recalled better than vice versa. Signal detection analyses revealed that male faces gave rise to a greater sensitivity than female faces did, and male participants, but not female participants, showed greater sensitivity to male faces than to female faces. Several theoretical implications are discussed.
Keywords
Directed forgetting, facial expression, facial recognition, memory of faces, sex differences
Discipline
Applied Behavior Analysis | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Volume
29
Issue
7
First Page
855
Last Page
865
ISSN
2044-5911
Identifier
10.1080/20445911.2017.1323907
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Citation
TAY, Peter Kay Chai, & YANG, Hwajin.(2017). Angry faces are more resistant to forgetting than are happy faces: Directed forgetting effects on the identity of emotional faces. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29(7), 855-865.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2313
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2017.1323907