Abstract. Background. Research indicates that depressive symptoms, both within clinical depression syndrome and the general population dimension, are associated with difficulties in trusting others. Aim. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between depressive symptom severity and the percep- tion of trustworthiness from faces in the general population. Materials and methods. A total of 85 participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and a trustworthiness rating task involving faces with different emotions at 100% or 50% intensity. Results. No significant association was found between depressive symptom severity and the perception of facial trustworthiness across different emotions at either intensity level. Moreover, participants with higher depressive symptom scores rated happy faces as the most trustworthy and angry faces as the least trustworthy, with neutral, sad, and fearful faces falling in between. This trend was observed in both 100% and 50% emotional intensities. Additionally, neutral faces were associated with significantly lower reaction speed as compared to emotional faces. Conclusion. Our results suggest that the perception of facial trustworthiness is not influenced by de- pressive symptoms in the general population.

Key words: depressive symptoms, facial trustworthiness, facial expression, emotions

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