scholarly journals Enhanced emotional and motor responses to live versus videotaped dynamic facial expressions

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Ting Hsu ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Sakiko Yoshikawa

Abstract Facial expression is an integral aspect of non-verbal communication of affective information. Earlier psychological studies have reported that the presentation of prerecorded photographs or videos of emotional facial expressions automatically elicits divergent responses, such as emotions and facial mimicry. However, such highly controlled experimental procedures may lack the vividness of real-life social interactions. This study incorporated a live image relay system that delivered models’ real-time performance of positive (smiling) and negative (frowning) dynamic facial expressions or their prerecorded videos to participants. We measured subjective ratings of valence and arousal and facial electromyography (EMG) activity in the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii muscles. Subjective ratings showed that the live facial expressions were rated to elicit higher valence and more arousing than the corresponding videos for positive emotion conditions. Facial EMG data showed that compared with the video, live facial expressions more effectively elicited facial muscular activity congruent with the models’ positive facial expressions. The findings indicate that emotional facial expressions in live social interactions are more evocative of emotional reactions and facial mimicry than earlier experimental data have suggested.

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
KANDICE J. VARCIN ◽  
PHOEBE E. BAILEY ◽  
JULIE D. HENRY

AbstractEmotional facial expressions evoke rapid, involuntary, and covert facial reactions in the perceiver that are consistent with the emotional valence of the observed expression. These responses are believed to be an important low-level mechanism contributing to the experience of empathy, which some have argued rely on a simulation mechanism subserved by the human mirror neuron system (MNS). Because schizophrenia is associated with pervasive social cognitive difficulties which have been linked to structural abnormalities in the MNS network, the aim of the present study was to provide the first assessment of how rapid facial mimicry reactions (within 1000 ms poststimulus onset) are affected in schizophrenia. Activity in thecorrugator superciliiandzygomaticus majormuscle regions was quantified using electromyography while individuals with schizophrenia (n= 25) and controls (n= 25) viewed images of happy and angry facial expressions. In contrast to controls, individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated atypical facial mimicry reactions which were not associated with any clinical features of the disorder. These data provide evidence for a low-level disruption that may be contributing to empathizing deficits in schizophrenia and are discussed in relation to neuropsychological models of empathy and schizophrenia. (JINS, 2010,16, 621–629.)


i-Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 204166951878652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Philip ◽  
Jean-Claude Martin ◽  
Céline Clavel

Facial expressions of emotion provide relevant cues for understanding social interactions and the affective processes involved in emotion perception. Virtual human faces are useful for conducting controlled experiments. However, little is known regarding the possible differences between physiological responses elicited by virtual versus real human facial expressions. The aim of the current study was to determine if virtual and real emotional faces elicit the same rapid facial reactions for the perception of facial expressions of joy, anger, and sadness. Facial electromyography (corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, and depressor anguli) was recorded in 30 participants during the presentation of dynamic or static and virtual or real faces. For the perception of dynamic facial expressions of joy and anger, analyses of electromyography data revealed that rapid facial reactions were stronger when participants were presented with real faces compared with virtual faces. These results suggest that the processes underlying the perception of virtual versus real emotional faces might differ.


1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (5) ◽  
pp. 695-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Young ◽  
Ian Reid ◽  
Simon Wright ◽  
Deborah J. Hellawell

Investigations of two cases of the Capgras delusion found that both patients showed face-processing impairments encompassing identification of familiar faces, recognition of emotional facial expressions, and matching of unfamiliar faces. In neither case was there any impairment of recognition memory for words. These findings are consistent with the idea that the basis of the Capgras delusion lies in damage to neuro-anatomical pathways responsible for appropriate emotional reactions to familiar visual stimuli. The delusion would then represent the patient's attempt to make sense of the fact that these visual stimuli no longer have appropriate affective significance.


2011 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystyna Rymarczyk ◽  
Cezary Biele ◽  
Anna Grabowska ◽  
Henryk Majczynski

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoki Ishikura ◽  
Yuki Kitamura ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Jun Takamatsu ◽  
Akishige Yuguchi ◽  
...  

Abstract Pleasant touching is an important aspect of social interactions that is widely used as a caregiving technique. To address problems resulting from a lack of available human caregivers, previous research has attempted to develop robots that can perform this kind of pleasant touch. However, it remains unclear whether robots can provide such a pleasant touch in a manner similar to humans. To investigate this issue, we compared the effect of the speed of gentle strokes on the back between human and robot agents on the emotional responses of human participants (n = 28). A robot or a human stroked on the participants’ back at slow and medium speeds (i.e., 2.6 and 8.5 cm/s). Participants’ subjective (valence and arousal ratings) and physiological (facial electromyography (EMG) recorded from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles, and skin conductance response) emotional reactions were measured. The subjective ratings demonstrated that the medium speed was more pleasant and arousing than the slow speed for both human and robot strokes. The corrugator supercilii EMG showed that the medium speed resulted in reduced activity in response to both human and robot strokes. These results demonstrate similar speed-dependent modulations of stroke on subjective and physiological positive emotional responses across human and robot agents and suggest that robots can provide a pleasant touch similar to that of humans.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-22
Author(s):  
O.A. Korolkova ◽  
E.A. Lobodinskaya

In an experimental study, we explored the role of the natural or artificial character of expression and the speed of its exposure in the recognition of emotional facial expressions during stroboscopic presentation. In Series 1, participants identified emotions represented as sequences of frames from a video of a natural facial expression; in Series 2 participants were shown sequences of linear morph images. The exposure speed was varied. The results showed that at any exposure speed, the expressions of happiness and disgust were recognized most accurately. Longer presentation increased the accuracy of assessments of happiness, disgust, and surprise. Expression of surprise, demonstrated as a linear transformation, was recognized more efficiently than frames of natural expression of surprise. Happiness was perceived more accurately on video frames. The accuracy of the disgust recognition did not depend on the type of images. The qualitative nature of the stimuli and the speed of their presentation did not affect the accuracy of sadness recognition. The categorical structure of the perception of expressions was stable in any type of exposed images. The obtained results suggest a qualitative difference in the perception of natural and artificial images of expressions, which can be observed under extreme exposure conditions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Aguado ◽  
Francisco J. Román ◽  
Sonia Rodríguez ◽  
Teresa Diéguez-Risco ◽  
Verónica Romero-Ferreiro ◽  
...  

AbstractThe possibility that facial expressions of emotion change the affective valence of faces through associative learning was explored using facial electromyography (EMG). In Experiment 1, EMG activity was registered while the participants (N = 57) viewed sequences of neutral faces (Stimulus 1 or S1) changing to either a happy or an angry expression (Stimulus 2 or S2). As a consequence of learning, participants who showed patterning of facial responses in the presence of angry and happy faces, that is, higher Corrugator Supercilii (CS) activity in the presence of angry faces and higher Zygomaticus Major (ZM) activity in the presence of happy faces, showed also a similar pattern when viewing the corresponding S1 faces. Explicit evaluations made by an independent sample of participants (Experiment 2) showed that evaluation of S1 faces was changed according to the emotional expression with which they had been associated. These results are consistent with an interpretation of rapid facial reactions to faces as affective responses that reflect the valence of the stimulus and that are sensitive to learned changes in the affective meaning of faces.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katlyn Peck

When individuals are presented with emotional facial expressions they spontaneously react with brief, distinct facial movements that ‘mimic’ the presented faces. While the effects of facial mimicry on emotional perception and social bonding have been well documented, the role of facial attractiveness on the elicitation of facial mimicry is unknown. We hypothesized that facial mimicry would increase with more attractive faces. Facial movements were recorded with electromyography upon presentation of averaged and original stimuli while ratings of attractiveness and intensity were obtained. In line with existing findings, emotionally congruent responses were observed in relevant facial muscle regions. Unexpectedly, the strength of observers’ facial mimicry responses decreased with more averaged faces, despite being rated perceptually as more attractive. These findings suggest that facial attractiveness moderates the degree of facial mimicry muscle movements elicited in observers. The relationship between averageness, attractiveness and mimicry is discussed in light of this counterintuitive finding.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Nordmann ◽  
Ralf Schäfer ◽  
Tobias Müller ◽  
Matthias Franz

Facial mimicry is the automatic tendency to imitate facial expressions of emotions. Alexithymia is associated with a reduced facial mimicry ability to affect expressions of adults. There is evidence that the baby schema may influence this process. In this study it was tested experimentally whether facial mimicry of the alexithymic group (AG) is different from the control group (CG) in response to dynamic facial affect expressions of children and adults. A multi-method approach (20-point Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia) was used for assessing levels of alexithymia. From 3503 initial data sets, two groups of 38 high and low alexithymic individuals without relevant mental or physical diseases were matched regarding age, gender, and education. Facial mimicry was induced by presentation of naturalistic affect-expressive video sequences (fear, sadness, disgust, anger, and joy) taken from validated sets of faces from adults (Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces) and children (Picture-Set of Young Children’s Affective Facial Expressions). The videos started with a neutral face and reached maximum affect expression within 2 s. The responses of the groups were measured by facial electromyographic activity (fEMG) of corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. Differences in fEMG response (4000 ms) were tested in a variance analytical model. There was one significant main effect for the factor emotion and four interaction effects for the factors group × age, muscle × age, muscle × emotion, and for the triple interaction muscle × age × emotion. The participants of AG showed a decreased fEMG activity in response to the presented faces of adults compared to the CG but not for the faces of children. The affect-expressive faces of children induced enhanced zygomatic and reduced corrugator muscle activity in both groups. Despite existing deficits in the facial mimicry of alexithymic persons, affect-expressive faces of children seem to trigger a stronger positive emotional involvement even in the AG.


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