An event-related brain potential (ERP) study investigated how different processing stages involved in categorization of facial expression are reflected by ERP modulations, and how ambiguity of facial expressions influence such effects. ERPs were recorded in response to facial expressions in which ambiguity was controlled by morphing techniques. Fifteen participants labeled positive or negative emotion expressed by face. The labeling task was a forced choice two categories. Each trial lasted 6.5s (0.5s of presentation, followed by a 6s interval of scrambled faces).
The ambiguous expression gave rise to N480 ms component with frontocentral and bilateral temporal electrodes; the onset of N480 component was much later in temporal than frontcentral. These findings suggest that activity in both frontocentral and temporal region vary with ambiguity of facial expressions in the categorization process.

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The affective primacy hypothesis asserts that positive and negative affective reactions can be evoked with minimal stimulus input. This phenomenon has been tested using subliminal affective priming technique, however, these techniques are not robust enough and have not been fully explored. The aim of this study was to clarify existence of the affective primacy and the underlying mechanism by a neuroimaging method using event related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Fourteen participants were scanned during a task in which they evaluated presented facial expressions of "anger, " "neutral, " or "happiness." Target stimuli were faces expressing weak and ambiguous anger expressions, which were presented just after a presentation of either (1) faces with strong anger expressions as affective stimuli, neutral faces, or a non-face object; or (2) flash as a control stimuli of 35ms duration. Processing of facial expressions in each condition commonly increased regional blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activity in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and left anterior cingulate gyrus. We identified the anterior part of anterior cingulate gyrus showed significant activation in the anger prime condition compared with the other three prime conditions. This suggests that the affective priming effect engendered especially in the anterior cingulate cortex. This suggests that a part of the neurophysiological substrates that underlies the subliminal affective priming has been identified.

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The purpose of this study was to examine "personal interests, " which has never been a thoroughly investigated area of psychological. Preparatory to the study, the personal interests of university students were collected with an open-ended questionnaire. Based on the results, a questionnaire to measure personal interests were made based on the items derived from the former questionnaire, and was administered to university students to further understand the structures of personal interests experienced in daily life. As a result, a questionnaire to measure the personal interests of university students was constructed from 7 interrelated factors: (1) Acquiring the knowledge; (2) Inter-personal relationships; (3) Recreation; (4) Artistic activities; (5) Daily life; (6) Exercise; and (7) Media and technology. It is possible to hypothesize that personal interests have indirect relationships, mediated by the intrinsic motivation, to psychological health. The relationships between personal interests and fulfillment, one aspect of psychological health, was examined to assess the validity of the structure of the questionnaire. Results showed that the structure of the personal interests questionnaire had significant, but moderate, effects on fulfillment. Results provided empirical support for the structure of a questionnaire for personal interests.

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This study had two purposes; first, to examine the causal relationships between the four factors of embarrassment, i. e., 'apprehension of social evaluation', 'inconsistency with self image', 'disruption of social interaction', and 'loss of self-esteem', and second, to clarify the mediating mechanisms underlying the six subcategories of emotions that comprise embarrassment. Two hundred and eighty-eight university students were presented with "Public" or "Private" embarrassing situations, and were asked to rate 12 items related to the four factors of embarrassment, and 17 items measuring the six subcategories of embarrassment. Covariance structure analysis was conducted to examine the relationship of the four factors of embarrassment, and to clarify the mediating mechanisms of the each subcategory of embarrassment. Results suggested that the four factors of embarrassment were causally related. Furthermore, it was found that the "loss of self-esteem" affected each subcategory of embarrassment in intensity, and all four factors directly and/or indirectly affected the six subcategories of embarrassment in a sequential process.

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