Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction
Dissatisfaction with facial appearance is one of the strongest contributors to body image disturbance among young Chinese females and leads to a series of psychological and behavioral disorders. By conducting behavioral and ERP experiments, this study illustrates how young females in China with faci...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1024197/full |
| _version_ | 1811323847895416832 |
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| author | Lan Zhu Lan Zhu Huan Zhou Xiaogang Wang Xiao Ma Qiaolan Liu |
| author_facet | Lan Zhu Lan Zhu Huan Zhou Xiaogang Wang Xiao Ma Qiaolan Liu |
| author_sort | Lan Zhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dissatisfaction with facial appearance is one of the strongest contributors to body image disturbance among young Chinese females and leads to a series of psychological and behavioral disorders. By conducting behavioral and ERP experiments, this study illustrates how young females in China with facial dissatisfaction process different levels of facial attractiveness. Experiments 1 and 2 are behavioral experiments in which the dot-probe paradigm was used to explore the participant’s attentional bias to facial attractiveness. The results showed that regardless of whether the face image was presented above or below the threshold, young females with facial dissatisfaction exhibited attentional orientation toward lowly attractive faces and attentional avoidance to both lowly and highly attractive faces, while the control group showed difficulty in attentional disengagement from highly attractive faces. In experiment 3, the learning-recognition task was used to examine mnemonic bias toward facial attractiveness among females with facial dissatisfaction, and EEG data were also recorded during the encoding and retrieval phases. The study found that young females with facial dissatisfaction exhibited a mnemonic preference for lowly attractive images at both the encoding and retrieving stages, with higher P1, N170, P2, and N300 induced by lowly attractive faces, while the control group preferred highly attractive faces. In conclusion, young females with facial dissatisfaction tend to exhibit attentional orientation and mnemonic bias toward lowly attractive faces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:02:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eaec65ab5dda46119e8a426e965f00e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:02:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-eaec65ab5dda46119e8a426e965f00e42022-12-22T02:44:00ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-11-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.10241971024197Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfactionLan Zhu0Lan Zhu1Huan Zhou2Xiaogang Wang3Xiao Ma4Qiaolan Liu5West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaSchool of Education and Psychology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, ChinaWest China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaSchool of Education and Psychology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, ChinaWest China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaWest China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, ChinaDissatisfaction with facial appearance is one of the strongest contributors to body image disturbance among young Chinese females and leads to a series of psychological and behavioral disorders. By conducting behavioral and ERP experiments, this study illustrates how young females in China with facial dissatisfaction process different levels of facial attractiveness. Experiments 1 and 2 are behavioral experiments in which the dot-probe paradigm was used to explore the participant’s attentional bias to facial attractiveness. The results showed that regardless of whether the face image was presented above or below the threshold, young females with facial dissatisfaction exhibited attentional orientation toward lowly attractive faces and attentional avoidance to both lowly and highly attractive faces, while the control group showed difficulty in attentional disengagement from highly attractive faces. In experiment 3, the learning-recognition task was used to examine mnemonic bias toward facial attractiveness among females with facial dissatisfaction, and EEG data were also recorded during the encoding and retrieval phases. The study found that young females with facial dissatisfaction exhibited a mnemonic preference for lowly attractive images at both the encoding and retrieving stages, with higher P1, N170, P2, and N300 induced by lowly attractive faces, while the control group preferred highly attractive faces. In conclusion, young females with facial dissatisfaction tend to exhibit attentional orientation and mnemonic bias toward lowly attractive faces.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1024197/fullyoung femalesfacial dissatisfactioncognitive biasbehavioral experiments & ERP experimentsfacial attractiveness |
| spellingShingle | Lan Zhu Lan Zhu Huan Zhou Xiaogang Wang Xiao Ma Qiaolan Liu Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction Frontiers in Psychology young females facial dissatisfaction cognitive bias behavioral experiments & ERP experiments facial attractiveness |
| title | Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| title_full | Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| title_fullStr | Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| title_short | Preference for ugly faces? —A cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| title_sort | preference for ugly faces a cognitive study of attentional and memorial biases toward facial information among young females with facial dissatisfaction |
| topic | young females facial dissatisfaction cognitive bias behavioral experiments & ERP experiments facial attractiveness |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1024197/full |
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