Others’ Facial Expressions Influence Individuals Making Choices and Processing Feedback: The Event-Related Potential and Behavioral Evidence

Xin Yu, Bo Xu and Entao Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Xin Yu: Institute of Cognition, Brain & Health, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Bo Xu: Institute of Cognition, Brain & Health, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Entao Zhang: Institute of Cognition, Brain & Health, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: To date, several studies have found the effect of facial expressions on trust decision, using the event-related potentials (ERPs). However, little is known about the neural mechanism underlying the modulation effect of facial expressions on making choices and subsequent outcome evaluation. In the present study, using an ERP technique, we investigated how the neural process of making choices and subsequent outcome evaluation were influenced by others’ facial expressions for the first time. Specifically, participants played a modified version of the Trust Game, in which they watched a photo of the trustee before making choices. Critically, trustees’ faces differed regarding emotional types (i.e., happy, neutral, or angry) and gender (i.e., female or male). Behaviorally, an interaction between expressions and gender was observed on investment rates. On the neural level, the N2 and P3 amplitudes were modulated by facial expressions in the making-choice stage. Additionally, the feedback-related P3 was also modulated by facial expressions. The present study proved the effect of facial expressions on making choices and subsequent outcome evaluation.

Keywords: trust game; facial expressions; making choices; feedback; ERP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/568/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/568/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:568-:d:1018823

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().