Hard wired

angry manThere are specific brain regions that are dedicated to processing threatening facial expressions.

By comparing how quickly human facial expressions of different types are detected in a crowd of neutral faces, researchers have demonstrated that male angry faces are a priority for visual processing – particularly for male observers.

In addition, men find angry faces of both genders faster than women, whereas women find socially relevant expressions (for example, happy or sad) more rapidly. The work suggests that although males are biased toward detecting threatening faces, and females are more attuned to socially relevant expressions, both sexes prioritize the detection of angry male faces … via Softpedia.


Youth with bipolar disorder (previously known as manic depression) misread facial expressions as hostile and show heightened neural reactions when they focus on emotional aspects of neutral faces, … read more >