Work

Angry or neutral, it does not matter to me: Implicit processing of facial emotions is not related to peer victimization experiences.

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: = 10.6, 49.4% girls) whose victimization history in the past 2 years was available. An Emotional Dot-Probe Task and an Emotion Processing fMRI Task were administered to the participants. Findings included that victimization did not relate significantly to a heightened attentional focus on happy, angry, or fearful expressions. Viewing facial expressions resulted in the activation of the posterior medial frontal cortex, bilateral insula, bilateral fusiform face area, and the right amygdala and hippocampus, which was not related to victimization, nor was victimization related to activation in the amygdala or the social brain regions (medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, precuneus, posterior superior temporal sulcus) when viewing specific emotional (happy, angry, afraid, sad) expressions. Together, these results do not provide evidence that implicit emotion processing without social context relates to victimization. Future research should replicate these results and further examine emotion processing in relation to severe victimization experiences and support systems, such as friendships or parenting, on emotion processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Emotion

DOI: 10.1037/emo0001405

Authors: Sanne Kellij, Gerine M. A. Lodder, René Veenstra, Berna Güroğlu

Institutions: University of Groningen, Tilburg University, Leiden University

Language: English

Topic: Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek