Relation between Self-Focused Attention and Sensitivity to Distortions of Own Face

Abstract

90 volunteers (62 women), aged from 18 to 38 years participated in an experimental task of own face recognition in morphed images. The aim of the study was to examine the test-retest reliability of self-face recognition test scores, the concurrent validity of test scores with self-focused attention, depression, anxiety, negative expressivity and personality, and a comparison of test scores by participant sex. An increased sensitivity to distortions of own face on retesting was found. Females were more sensitive to distortions of own face. Extraversion was positively correlated with self-face recognition test scores. The scales of public and private self-consciousness and negative expressivity correlated negatively with measures of the self-face recognition test, suggesting that people with high scores on these scales are more sensitive to facial distortions and refuse to recognize themselves in distorted images.