Effects of different processing orientation on recognition of multiple facial expressions

While the use of processing orientation to investigate facial identity recognition has been researched and documented, the use of processing orientation as a mean to investigate a social situation such as recognizing emotions through facial expression has been rare. Through this study, we hope to investigate the effect that different processing orientation possesses when recognizing numerous facial expressions. Perceptual priming was used to activate either global processing orientation or local processing orientation. Previous research has shown that different processing orientation influences the recognition of a sole facial expression. However, investigation of its influences when recognizing numerous facial expressions has been rarely conducted. Therefore, this study aims to combine the two sector together. Particularly, the effects of different processing orientation on the accuracy and speed of recognizing numerous facial expressions was investigated in this study. 61 undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) were first primed with either the global processing style or local processing style before proceeding to complete a multiple facial expression task. Results demonstrated a trend that participants who were primed with the global processing style reacted faster and recognized numerous facial expressions more accurately. Conversely, priming participants with a local processing style resulted in slower response time and poorer accuracy when recognizing numerous facial expressions. Lastly, limitations and impacts of this finding for future research were discussed in the paper. keywords: perceptual priming, global-local processing, facial expression recognition, multiple facial expressions.Bachelor of Art