Reduced emotion processing efficiency in healthy males relative to females

Sara L. Weisenbach, Lisa J. Rapport, Emily M. Briceno, Brennan D. Haase, Aaron C. Vederman, Linas A. Bieliauskas, Robert C. Welsh, Monica N. Starkman, Melvin G. McInnis, Jon Kar Zubieta, Scott A. Langenecker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined sex differences in categorization of facial emotions and activation of brain regions supportive of those classifications. In Experiment 1, performance on the Facial Emotion Perception Test (FEPT) was examined among 75 healthy females and 63 healthy males. Females were more accurate in the categorization of fearful expressions relative to males. In Experiment 2, 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired for a separate sample of 21 healthy females and 17 healthy males while performing the FEPT. Activation to neutral facial expressions was subtracted from activation to sad, angry, fearful and happy facial expressions. Although females and males demonstrated activation in some overlapping regions for all emotions, many regions were exclusive to females or males. For anger, sad and happy, males displayed a larger extent of activation than did females, and greater height of activation was detected in diffuse cortical and subcortical regions. For fear, males displayed greater activation than females only in right postcentral gyri. With one exception in females, performance was not associated with activation. Results suggest that females and males process emotions using different neural pathways, and these differences cannot be explained by performance variations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbernss137
Pages (from-to)316-325
Number of pages10
JournalSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience
Volume9
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Affect perception
  • Face emotion processing
  • Gender differences
  • Sex differences

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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