INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #19 Affect intensity moderates the relationship between familiarity with multicultural faces and memory for facial emotion Carmen Chek, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Brenda Owe, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Robiann Broomfield, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Gavin Sanders, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Scott Langenecker, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, United States Lisa Rapport, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Category: Emotional and Social Processes Keyword 1: emotional processes Keyword 2: multiculturalism Keyword 3: facial affect Objective: “Own-race bias” (ORB) describes enhanced accuracy in discriminating faces from racial groups like one’s own and may be facilitated by familiarity. Research examining familiarity effects has mainly focused on face recognition (i.e., identifying the face) compared to face emotion perception (i.e., identifying emotional expressions). Moreover, research on memory for emotion (vs. facial recognition or emotion perception) is sparse, with no studies examining familiarity effects on memory for facial emotions. “Familiarity” has mainly been operationalized as classification similarities (e.g., same race). The assumption that individuals experience greater intra- than inter-race familiarity may be a valid generalization. However, it makes an inferential leap between category-belonging and lived-world experience, and it fails to account for issues affecting a subjective sense of familiarity. We tested the familiarity hypothesis of ORB by examining associations between subjective familiarity with neutral faces from multiple races and perception accuracy and delayed memory for emotions. Additionally, we hypothesized that this relationship would be moderated by trait differences in affect intensity, given its potential influence on attentional engagement. Participants and Methods: Participants were 57 neurologically-healthy adults (46% Black, 54% White; 56% men), ranging between ages 20–63 and 12–20 educational years. The battery included the novel Face Recognition and Memory for Emotion (FRAME) test, a multicultural facial emotion task, and the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). The FRAME yields scores for subjective familiarity rating of 16 target actors showing neutral expressions on a 4-point scale, emotion perception accuracy, and delayed memory for emotions. Results: Mixed-model ANOVA showed significant, large effects of target-race congruence, (p < .001, η² = .49), and congruence by participant-race interaction (p = .004, η² = .14), indicating stronger effects of racial congruence on subjective familiarity of neutral multicultural faces for Black participants (d = 0.85) than for White participants (d = 0.40). There was no main effect of participants’ race (p = .121, η² = .04). Moderation analyses predicting memory for emotions indicated main effects of familiarity (p = .030) and AIM (p = .003), and an interaction between familiarity and AIM (p = .013, ΔR² = .10). The relationship between familiarity and memory for emotions depended on affect intensity, with significant relationships at medium (p = .040) and high (p = .002) but not low (p = .782) affect intensity levels. A similar interaction was observed for perception accuracy across learning trials (p = .043, ΔR² = .07), significant only for high affect intensity levels (p = .012). Conclusions: Subjective experience of familiarity enhanced sensitivity to others’ emotions, including objective accuracy in perception and delayed memory for emotions. Affect intensity had substantial effects on emotion processing, indicating that individuals’ intense experience of their own emotions can enhance or disrupt sensitivity to others’ emotions. Moreover, the extent to which subjective familiarity enhanced emotion processing depended on the level of affect intensity. Given the observation of differential importance of target-race congruence on familiarity between Black and White participants, future studies should power to account for it as a second moderator of these effects.

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #19

Affect intensity moderates the relationship between familiarity with multicultural faces and memory for facial emotion

Carmen Chek, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Brenda Owe, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Robiann Broomfield, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Gavin Sanders, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Scott Langenecker, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, United States
Lisa Rapport, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States

Category: Emotional and Social Processes

Keyword 1: emotional processes
Keyword 2: multiculturalism
Keyword 3: facial affect

Objective:

“Own-race bias” (ORB) describes enhanced accuracy in discriminating faces from racial groups like one’s own and may be facilitated by familiarity. Research examining familiarity effects has mainly focused on face recognition (i.e., identifying the face) compared to face emotion perception (i.e., identifying emotional expressions). Moreover, research on memory for emotion (vs. facial recognition or emotion perception) is sparse, with no studies examining familiarity effects on memory for facial emotions.

“Familiarity” has mainly been operationalized as classification similarities (e.g., same race). The assumption that individuals experience greater intra- than inter-race familiarity may be a valid generalization. However, it makes an inferential leap between category-belonging and lived-world experience, and it fails to account for issues affecting a subjective sense of familiarity. We tested the familiarity hypothesis of ORB by examining associations between subjective familiarity with neutral faces from multiple races and perception accuracy and delayed memory for emotions. Additionally, we hypothesized that this relationship would be moderated by trait differences in affect intensity, given its potential influence on attentional engagement.

Participants and Methods:

Participants were 57 neurologically-healthy adults (46% Black, 54% White; 56% men), ranging between ages 20–63 and 12–20 educational years. The battery included the novel Face Recognition and Memory for Emotion (FRAME) test, a multicultural facial emotion task, and the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). The FRAME yields scores for subjective familiarity rating of 16 target actors showing neutral expressions on a 4-point scale, emotion perception accuracy, and delayed memory for emotions.

Results:

Mixed-model ANOVA showed significant, large effects of target-race congruence, (p < .001, η² = .49), and congruence by participant-race interaction (p = .004, η² = .14), indicating stronger effects of racial congruence on subjective familiarity of neutral multicultural faces for Black participants (d = 0.85) than for White participants (d = 0.40). There was no main effect of participants’ race (p = .121, η² = .04).

Moderation analyses predicting memory for emotions indicated main effects of familiarity (p = .030) and AIM (p = .003), and an interaction between familiarity and AIM (p = .013, ΔR² = .10). The relationship between familiarity and memory for emotions depended on affect intensity, with significant relationships at medium (p = .040) and high (p = .002) but not low (p = .782) affect intensity levels. A similar interaction was observed for perception accuracy across learning trials (p = .043, ΔR² = .07), significant only for high affect intensity levels (p = .012).

Conclusions:

Subjective experience of familiarity enhanced sensitivity to others’ emotions, including objective accuracy in perception and delayed memory for emotions. Affect intensity had substantial effects on emotion processing, indicating that individuals’ intense experience of their own emotions can enhance or disrupt sensitivity to others’ emotions. Moreover, the extent to which subjective familiarity enhanced emotion processing depended on the level of affect intensity. Given the observation of differential importance of target-race congruence on familiarity between Black and White participants, future studies should power to account for it as a second moderator of these effects.