In day-to-day social interactions, we frequently use cues and contextual knowledge to make perceptual decisions regarding the presence or absence of threat in facial expressions. Such perceptual decisions are often made in socially evaluative contexts. However, the influence of such contexts on perceptual discrimination of threatening and neutral expressions has not been examined empirically. Furthermore, it is unclear how individual differences in anxiety interact with socially evaluative contexts to influence threat-related perceptual decision-making. In the present study, participants completed a 2-alternative forced choice perceptual decision-making task in which they used threatening and neutral cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral faces while being socially evaluated by purported peers or not. Perceptual sensitivity and reaction time were measured. Individual differences in state anxiety were assessed immediately after the task. In the presence of social evaluation, higher state anxiety was associated with worse perceptual sensitivity, i.e., worse discrimination of threatening and neutral faces. These findings suggest that individual differences in anxiety interact with social evaluation to impair the use of threatening cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral expressions. Such impairment in perceptual decision-making may contribute to maladaptive social behavior that often accompanies evaluative social contexts.

在日常社交互动中，我们经常使用线索和情境知识来做出有关面部表情中是否存在威胁的感知决策。这种感知决策通常是在社会评价背景下做出的。然而，这种背景对威胁性和中性表达的知觉辨别的影响尚未得到实证检验。此外，尚不清楚焦虑的个体差异如何与社会评价环境相互作用，从而影响与威胁相关的感知决策。在本研究中，参与者完成了一项 2 种选择的强制选择感知决策任务，其中他们使用威胁性和中性线索来区分威胁性面孔和中性面孔，同时接受是否由所谓的同龄人进行社会评估。测量感知灵敏度和反应时间。任务完成后立即评估状态焦虑的个体差异。在存在社会评价的情况下，较高的状态焦虑与较差的感知敏感性相关，即对威胁性面孔和中性面孔的辨别力较差。这些发现表明，焦虑的个体差异与社会评价相互作用，削弱了使用威胁线索来区分威胁性表达和中性表达的能力。这种知觉决策的损害可能会导致适应不良的社会行为，而这种行为通常伴随着评价性的社会环境。