Face recognition in patients with social phobia

Abstract

Patients with social phobia were compared with normal controls on a task of face recognition. The subjects were instructed to look at 20 photos of persons unknown to them, and to judge the expected quality of contact that would take place with these persons if they were to meet them in real life. Although the social phobics expected a less good contact with these persons than the control subjects did, there was no significant group difference on recognition of high- vs. low-contact faces. The results are discussed in contrast with another study, which showed evidence of recognition bias for critical faces in a group of social phobics.