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Anxiety can do many things to the body, including increasing blood pressure and heart rate. But a new study suggests that it does not stop there.
Researchers from the University of Bristol suggest a heightened state of anxiety affects the ability to read facial expressions, with some people unable to distinguish between happy and angry. The study, State anxiety and emotional face recognition in healthy volunteers, was published in the journal of Royal Society Open Science.
They found that those suffering from a heightened nervous disorder saw angry facial expressions more often than not.
The study aimed to elucidate how 'levels of anxiety influence how we see the world,' Prof Marcus Munafò, professor of biological psychology told The Guardian's Nicola Davis.
21 staff and students from Bristol volunteered for the study, and they were given an oro-nasal facemask which pumped normal air or air with a high amount of carbon dioxide into the participants — the change in blood pressure resulting from this induced an anxiety attack.
The first part of the study consisted of participants being shown 15 different facial expressions. The images showed one individuals face, which morphed from surprised to sad to happy to fear to disgust and then finally to anger. The participants were then asked to assign the faces to the correct emotion.
Read more here. (Unipaper)
Researchers from the University of Bristol suggest a heightened state of anxiety affects the ability to read facial expressions, with some people unable to distinguish between happy and angry. The study, State anxiety and emotional face recognition in healthy volunteers, was published in the journal of Royal Society Open Science.
They found that those suffering from a heightened nervous disorder saw angry facial expressions more often than not.
The study aimed to elucidate how 'levels of anxiety influence how we see the world,' Prof Marcus Munafò, professor of biological psychology told The Guardian's Nicola Davis.
21 staff and students from Bristol volunteered for the study, and they were given an oro-nasal facemask which pumped normal air or air with a high amount of carbon dioxide into the participants — the change in blood pressure resulting from this induced an anxiety attack.
The first part of the study consisted of participants being shown 15 different facial expressions. The images showed one individuals face, which morphed from surprised to sad to happy to fear to disgust and then finally to anger. The participants were then asked to assign the faces to the correct emotion.
Read more here. (Unipaper)
