Individuals may experience symptoms of anxiety at bothersome levels, but do not meet diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Studying individuals with elevated, but not clinically significant levels of anxiety may provide insights as to the variations in the interpretations of emotionally ambiguous faces (surprise and neutral). The present study examined how response times and valence ratings of emotionally ambiguous faces (surprise and neutral) differ between individuals with normal to mild anxiety levels (low anxiety; LA) versus moderate to extremely severe anxiety levels (high anxiety; HA). The study also examined the relationships of heart rate variability (HRV) and emotional regulation strategies to anxiety. Participants completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) and Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Resting state HRV was collected. Participants were instructed to rate the emotional valence of happy, angry, surprised, and neutral human facial expressions. Preliminary analyses revealed our sample of college students had higher than normal levels of anxiety. Participants with HA (DASS-21>9) rated neutral faces more negatively and more slowly than participants with LA (DASS-21<10 ). Surprised faces took longer to rate versus neutral, and were rated more positively overall, but there were no differences between HA and LA participants. There was no relationship between anxiety level and HRV or emotional regulation strategy. HA participants rated neutral faces more negatively than did LA participants, implying either negative interpretation biases or a deficit in the ability to differentiate between neutral and angry facial expressions. Rather than rapidly interpreting neutral faces negatively, HA participants appear to spend more time processing neutral faces, contrary to the negative interpretation bias theory.

Hannah Wilks would like to thank their faculty sponsor Jill Waring for their support of this project.