情緒種子(emotion seeds)理論(Aviezer, Hassin, Bentin, et al., 2008)認為情境對臉部情緒辨識之影響，是透過「目標臉部表情」與「情境連結之表情」間之物理特徵相似程度，當兩者相似度越高時，臉部情緒之正確辨識率越低，呈負相關，而誤認為情境情緒之比例越高，呈正相關。然而情緒種子理論尚未釐清其核心的內在心理機制，且使用包含其他具體物品之身體姿勢作為情境，亦缺乏對情境嚴謹之操作型定義，為補足目前研究之缺口，本研究使用經嚴謹操作型定義之情境材料，進行情緒種子理論機制之探討，並揭示情境影響臉部情緒辨識之內在心理歷程。
本研究共包含三個實驗，實驗一提出代表性和多元性兩項情境特性指標，對情境進行嚴謹之操弄與篩選，結果發現相同情緒類別下，刺激材料在不同程度之情境特性間存在差異，並據此篩選出不同特性與程度之情緒情境刺激材料。實驗二將實驗一挑選出之情境刺激材料與七種情緒之臉部表情做配對，以進行情緒種子理論預測之驗證，結果顯示，情境的身體線索所具有的代表性與多元性對臉部情緒辨識皆有顯著之影響，且兩者具有不同之影響力，此一發現表明情境所具有的特定情緒線索性質（例如：代表性與多元性）可發揮重要且不可忽略之影響。此外，相似度與臉部情緒辨識正確率之關係並非完全如「情緒種子理論」所主張之負相關，而是呈現非線性模式，且不同臉部情緒與不同身體情緒間亦呈現不同之相關性。綜合實驗二之結果表明情緒種子理論應以更為嚴謹的研究設計深入探討兩造之物理與心理屬性對臉部表情情緒判斷之影響。
此外，實驗二之結果發現一種特殊的臉部情緒辨識反應，即臉部情緒辨識結果非依據臉部或身體情緒，而是獨立於二者之外之情緒類別反應，本研究將此現象定義為第三種情緒。為進一步探討第三種情緒現象之生成因素，實驗三依據實驗二之反應結果，分別挑選出依據臉部情緒、身體情緒以及第三種情緒為辨識結果的三組刺激，並透過操弄認知負荷量，探討此現象是否與認知負荷量有關。結果發現，此現象之生成與低階訊息處理之認知負荷量無關，或許是由高階情緒系統由上而下之處理所造成，但此一推論仍待未來研究加以探討。
綜上所述，本研究提出代表性及多元性兩項情境指標，並據此嚴謹篩選出情境之刺激材料，研究結果深化情境特性在臉部情緒辨識中之影響結果，並修正情緒種子理論提出之假設，更揭示第三種情緒之現象，並試著釐清形成此現象之重要因素，為臉部情緒與情緒情境整合領域提供全新理論視角與修正方向。

The Emotion Seeds(Aviezer, Hassin, Bentin, et al., 2008) posits that contextual influence on facial emotion recognition depends on physical similarity between the target facial expression and the face linked to the context.. However, its psychological mechanisms remain unclear, and previous studies lacked rigorous operational definitions for context. This study addresses these gaps using rigorously defined contexts across three experiments. Experiment 1 introduced two contextual characteristics—representativeness and diversity—to systematically screen emotional contextual stimuli. Experiment 2 paired these stimuli with seven facial expressions to test the theory. Results showed that representativeness and diversity significantly and distinctly affected facial emotion recognition. Crucially, the similarity-accuracy relationship exhibited a non-linear pattern rather than the predicted negative correlation, indicating the need to refine the Emotion Seeds. Experiment 2 also uncovered a "third emotion" phenomenon, where responses reflected an independent emotional category aligned with neither facial nor bodily cues. Experiment 3 manipulated cognitive load and found that this phenomenon was unrelated to low-level processing load, suggesting a potential role for top-down processing by higher-order emotional systems. Overall, this study refines the Emotion Seeds, deepens the understanding of contextual characteristics, and introduces the "third emotion" phenomenon, offering novel theoretical insights into facial-contextual emotion integration.

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