Emotion recognition from ambiguous facial expressions and utterances: Relationship between implicit and explicit processing

Previous studies have differentiated between implicit and explicit processing in emotion recognition using facial expressions and utterances. Implicit processing relates to observed cues, and explicit processing to inference of the expressed emotion. However, the relationships between implicit and explicit processing, and between emotion recognition from facial expressions and from utterances, have not yet been empirically determined. To investigate this issue, the present study examined the more important cues in judging the emotion of the expressor by presenting facial expressions that expressed different emotions in the eyes and mouth, and utterances that expressed different emotions in prosody and lexical content. Additionally, the study examined the cues the participants were more likely to focus their attention on. The results indicated no relationship between implicit and explicit processing. However, an association between the explicit processing of facial expressions and that of utterances was observed, suggesting that explicit processing is independent of implicit processing, and influenced by social conventions. These findings expand our knowledge regarding the processes involved in emotion recognition.