The Effects of Directional Facial Cues on Electrodermal Conditioning to Facial Stimuli

The present two Experiments demonstrate that the orientation of angry facial expressions is a critical cue when faces serve as conditioned stimuli during aversive electrodermal conditioning. Experiment 1 demonstrated that responses conditioned to angry faces directed toward the subjects showed significant resistance to extinction whereas responses conditioned to angry faces directed away extinguished immediately during extinction. Experiment 2 was designed to investigate whether the orientation factor was effective only during extinction, i.e. whether the orientation was a performance variable, or if the observed effect originated from factors active during acquisition, i.e. if the orientation primarily influenced learning. When the orientation was shifted between the acquisition and the extinction phase, it was found that it did not matter what direction the faces had during acquisition; it was only during extinction that the faces needed to be directed toward the subjects to evoke persistent responding. These results suggest that the subjects acquired a conditioned response to the angry face regardless of its direction, but that this learning effect remained only when the angry face was directed toward the subject during extinction.