We tested three hypotheses in this study. First, we
predicted that all participants would classify happy faces
more easily (i.e., with fewer errors and at a lower intensity)
than they would sad faces. Second, based on findings from
morphing studies using adult faces (Joormann and Gotlib,
2006; Surguladze et al., 2004), we predicted that depressed
participants would exhibit a bias in the identification of
happy faces, but not of sad faces. Finally, we hypothesised
that this bias would be disorder-specific, such that compared
to controls, anxious participants with Generalised Anxiety
Disorder (GAD) would not exhibit differences in accuracy or
intensity of identification of either sad or happy faces.