Relationships between perceptual defence reactions and subjective tendencies in the phenomenal representation of facial displays of affect.

Examined if nonveridical reports of a stimulus-motif presented below the threshold for correct recognition were related to subjective tendencies in the ordinary perception of thermatically related stimuli. 64 college students were tested with the standard picture of the Defense Mechanism Test that reflects a theme of aggression and threat. Stimulus-inadequate reports of the picture-motif were related to the Ss' phenomenal representations of video-recorded facial displays of anger, fear, sadness, and joy. Results demonstrate a correspondence between the individual's perceptual distortions, eliminations, or additions to the threatening subliminal stimulus and his or her phenomenal representation of the supraliminal affective stimuli