臉部表情具有動態與複雜性，經常導致情緒判斷上的模糊與誤判。憤怒與恐懼因面部肌肉動作與外觀特徵的相似性，特別容易在快速或退化的視覺條件下被混淆。近期研究開始關注臉部顏色是否能作為一項輔助線索，協助釐清情緒分類上的歧異。本研究旨在探討臉部顏色是否調節個體對憤怒與恐懼表情的情緒分類傾向，並檢驗該效果是否能延伸至周邊視野。在實驗一中，參與者在無時間限制下，根據紅－綠色軸對模糊的憤怒－恐懼表情進行情緒分類與情緒強度評分；實驗二則將臉孔的呈現時間限制為 100 毫秒，以模擬快速、近乎自動化的情緒辨識情境。根據實驗一與實驗二的結果，臉色偏綠的臉孔較常被分類為「恐懼」，而偏紅的臉孔則較常被分類為「憤怒」。廣義線性混合模型（GLMM）分析顯示，臉部紅度（a* 值）能顯著預測分類為「憤怒」的機率，紅度越高，越容易被判斷為具威脅性的情緒。根據實驗一的線性混合模型（LMM）分析，在被分類為「憤怒」的臉孔中，臉部紅度與情緒強度評分呈現顯著正向線性關係，紅度越高，所感知的情緒強度也越高。此結果可能反映出中等紅度下的臉孔線索較模糊，進而引發較大的知覺不確定性。整體而言，即使在極短暫曝光的條件下（實驗二），臉部顏色依然對情緒判斷產生顯著影響，突顯顏色訊息在快速、初步的社會認知歷程中扮演關鍵角色。基於上述發現，實驗三進一步探討臉部顏色是否也會影響中央與周邊視野（偏心角為 2.5° 與 6°）中的情緒知覺。刺激呈現時間為 150 毫秒，並在之後加入遮蔽刺激（backward mask）與凝視點。結果顯示，臉部顏色在不同視野位置中皆顯著影響情緒分類：偏綠的臉孔較常被判斷為恐懼，偏紅的臉孔則較常被判斷為憤怒。臉部顏色與刺激位置皆呈現顯著主效應，並且彼此之間存在交互作用，後續分析顯示紅度對憤怒分類的影響在中央視野最為顯著，於周邊視野則相對減弱。在反應時間方面，結果顯示刺激位置具有顯著主效應，位於最周邊（6°）的位置反應時間較長；臉部顏色與反應時間之間則未呈現顯著關聯，也未觀察到與刺激位置之間的交互作用。綜合三個實驗的結果可知，即使在快速呈現與不同視野位置的條件下，臉部顏色依然能穩定地影響情緒分類判斷，其影響力會隨空間位置而有所變化。這些發現支持社會功能觀點下的臉部顏色理論，指出臉部顏色作為一項具生物社會意義的視覺線索，能夠在多種感知條件下促進情緒表達的辨識與分類。

Facial expressions are inherently dynamic and complex, often leading to ambiguity and misclassification in emotion perception. Among emotions, anger and fear are particularly prone to confusion due to the similarity in facial musculature and appearance, especially under rapid or degraded visual conditions. Recent research has begun to examine whether facial color can serve as an auxiliary cue to aid in the disambiguation of emotional expressions. This study aimed to investigate whether facial coloration modulates individuals’ tendency to categorize emotional expressions as anger or fear, and whether this effect extends to peripheral vision. In Experiment 1, participants categorized ambiguous anger–fear facial expressions along the redness–greenness axis and rated emotional intensity without time constraints. In Experiment 2, faces were presented for only 100 milliseconds to simulate rapid, nearly automatic emotion processing. Results from both experiments showed that greener faces were more often categorized as fearful, while redder faces were more frequently judged as angry. Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analyses revealed that facial redness (a* value) significantly predicted the likelihood of anger classification—greater increased the probability of a face being perceived as threatening. Based on the linear mixed-effects model (LMM) analyses from Experiment 1, faces categorized as angry showed a significant linear relationship between facial and perceived emotion intensity, such that greater redness was associated with higher intensity ratings. This suggests that moderate levels of facial redness may introduce greater perceptual ambiguity, leading to reduced clarity in fear-related emotional signaling. Despite the brief exposure time in Experiment 2, facial color still exerted a robust effect on emotion judgments, underscoring the importance of color cues in rapid, early-stage social cognition. Building on these findings, Experiment 3 examined whether facial color influences emotion perception in both central and peripheral vision (eccentricities of 2.5° and 6°). Faces were presented for 150 milliseconds, followed by a backward mask and a fixation cross. Results showed that facial color significantly affected emotion categorization across all visual field positions: greener faces were more likely to be judged as fearful, redder faces as angry. Both facial color and stimulus position showed significant main effects, and their interaction was also significant. Specifically, the influence of redness on anger classification was strongest in central vision and attenuated in peripheral vision. In terms of reaction time, stimulus position showed a significant main effect, with the most peripheral (6°) location yielding longer response times. However, facial color did not significantly influence reaction time, nor did it interact with position. Taken together, the results across all three experiments demonstrate that facial color consistently influences emotion categorization even under rapid presentation and varying visual field conditions. The magnitude of this influence, however, is modulated by spatial position. These findings support the social-functional perspective on facial coloration, suggesting that color serves as a biologically and socially meaningful visual cue that facilitates the recognition and categorization of emotional expressions under diverse perceptual constraints.

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