scholarly journals The effects of facial attractiveness on spontaneous facial mimicry.

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 ◽  
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.


Author(s):  
Xia Fang ◽  
Disa Sauter ◽  
Marc Heerdink ◽  
Gerben van Kleef

There is a growing consensus that culture influences the perception of facial expressions of emotion. However, little is known about whether and how culture shapes the production of emotional facial expressions, and even less so about whether culture differentially shapes the production of posed versus spontaneous expressions. Drawing on prior work on cultural differences in emotional communication, we tested the prediction that people from the Netherlands (a historically heterogeneous culture where people are prone to low-context communication) produce facial expressions that are more distinct across emotions compared to people from China (a historically homogeneous culture where people are prone to high-context communication). Furthermore, we examined whether the degree of distinctiveness varies across posed and spontaneous expressions. Dutch and Chinese participants were instructed to either pose facial expressions of anger and disgust, or to share autobiographical events that elicited spontaneous expressions of anger or disgust. Using the complementary approaches of supervised machine learning and information-theoretic analysis of facial muscle movements, we show that posed and spontaneous facial expressions of anger and disgust were more distinct when produced by Dutch compared to Chinese participants. These findings shed new light on the role of culture in emotional communication by demonstrating, for the first time, effects on the distinctiveness of production of facial expressions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 475-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Livingstone ◽  
William Forde Thompson ◽  
Frank A. Russo

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS ARE USED IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE to communicate structural and emotional intentions. Exposure to emotional facial expressions also may lead to subtle facial movements that mirror those expressions. Seven participants were recorded with motion capture as they watched and imitated phrases of emotional singing. Four different participants were recorded using facial electromyography (EMG) while performing the same task. Participants saw and heard recordings of musical phrases sung with happy, sad, and neutral emotional connotations. They then imitated the target stimulus, paying close attention to the emotion expressed. Facial expressions were monitored during four epochs: (a) during the target; (b) prior to their imitation; (c) during their imitation; and (d) after their imitation. Expressive activity was observed in all epochs, implicating a role of facial expressions in the perception, planning, production, and post-production of emotional singing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutong Liu ◽  
Huini Peng ◽  
Jianhui Wu ◽  
Hongxia Duan

Background: Individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment present with a deficiency in emotional processing in later life. Most studies have focused mainly on childhood physical or sexual abuse; however, childhood emotional abuse, a core issue underlying different forms of childhood maltreatment, has received relatively little attention. The current study explored whether childhood emotional abuse is related to the impaired processing of emotional facial expressions in healthy young men.Methods: The emotional facial processing was investigated in a classical gender discrimination task while the event-related potentials (ERPs) data were collected. Childhood emotional abuse was assessed by a Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) among 60 healthy young men. The relationship between the score of emotional abuse and the behavioral and the ERP index of emotional facial expression (angry, disgust, and happy) were explored.Results: Participants with a higher score of childhood emotional abuse responded faster on the behavioral level and had a smaller P2 amplitude on the neural level when processing disgust faces compared to neutral faces.Discussion: Individuals with a higher level of childhood emotional abuse may quickly identify negative faces with less cognitive resources consumed, suggesting altered processing of emotional facial expressions in young men with a higher level of childhood emotional abuse.


Author(s):  
Peggy Mason

Tracts descending from motor control centers in the brainstem and cortex target motor interneurons and in select cases motoneurons. The mechanisms and constraints of postural control are elaborated and the effect of body mass on posture discussed. Feed-forward reflexes that maintain posture during standing and other conditions of self-motion are described. The role of descending tracts in postural control and the pathological posturing is described. Pyramidal (corticospinal and corticobulbar) and extrapyramidal control of body and face movements is contrasted. Special emphasis is placed on cortical regions and tracts involved in deliberate control of facial expression; these pathways are contrasted with mechanisms for generating emotional facial expressions. The signs associated with lesions of either motoneurons or motor control centers are clearly detailed. The mechanisms and presentation of cerebral palsy are described. Finally, understanding how pre-motor cortical regions generate actions is used to introduce apraxia, a disorder of action.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonidas C. Leonidou ◽  
Bilge Aykol ◽  
Thomas A. Fotiadis ◽  
Athina Zeriti ◽  
Paul Christodoulides

Despite the critical importance of emotional intelligence in effectively interacting with other people, its role has been overlooked in scholarly research on cross-border interorganizational relationships. Drawing on emotion regulation theory, the authors propose a model that conceptualizes links among exporters’ emotional intelligence, key behavioral dimensions characterizing the atmosphere of the relationship with import buyers, and the resulting relational performance. They test the model with data collected from 262 Greek exporters using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that higher levels of exporter emotional intelligence enhance communication and social bonding with the importer while diminishing distance and conflict in their working relationship. Relational performance is positively influenced by communication and social bonding but negatively affected by distance and conflict. The results also reveal the moderating effect of both opportunism and interpartner incompatibility on the association between the exporter’s emotional intelligence and the behavioral atmosphere of the relationship with import buyers.


2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1475-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kendler ◽  
L. J. Halberstadt ◽  
F. Butera ◽  
J. Myers ◽  
T. Bouchard ◽  
...  

BackgroundWhile the role of genetic factors in self-report measures of emotion has been frequently studied, we know little about the degree to which genetic factors influence emotional facial expressions.MethodTwenty-eight pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins from the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart were shown three emotion-inducing films and their facial responses recorded. These recordings were blindly scored by trained raters. Ranked correlations between twins were calculated controlling for age and sex.ResultsTwin pairs were significantly correlated for facial expressions of general positive emotions, happiness, surprise and anger, but not for general negative emotions, sadness, or disgust or average emotional intensity. MZ pairs (n=18) were more correlated than DZ pairs (n=10) for most but not all emotional expressions.ConclusionsSince these twin pairs had minimal contact with each other prior to testing, these results support significant genetic effects on the facial display of at least some human emotions in response to standardized stimuli. The small sample size resulted in estimated twin correlations with very wide confidence intervals.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalsoom BeBe ◽  
Wang Bing

The commitment of public employees to organisations is an imperative deliberation that affects the efficiency of public services organisations. The objective of this study is to investigate whether the social responsibility among local public administrators raises organisational commitment. This study subsequently explores the moderating role of citizenship behaviour and social bonding (permanent vs temporary employees) of public employees in the relationship between social responsibility and organisational commitment. In this study, empirical data are collected from local officials working in local public administration services organisations in Pakistan (n = 308). The statistical analysis is used to test the relationship between social responsibility and commitment and the moderating effect of citizenship behaviour and social bonding on social responsibility-organisational commitment relationship.The results show that social responsibility is a determinant to organisational commitment and citizenship behaviour and social bonding moderate the social responsibility-commitment relationship. The effect of social responsibility on organisational commitment is stronger in permanent public administrators having high perspective of organisational citizenship behaviours than in temporary public administrators having low perspective of organisational citizenship behaviours. This study contributes to knowledge of the effect of social responsibility on organisational commitment in local public employees and proves that citizenship behaviour and social bonding affect the social responsibility-commitment relationship in local public administrators.


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