Facial EMG responses to emotional expressions are related to emotion perception ability

Although most people can identify facial expressions of emotions well, they still differ in this ability. According to embodied simulation theories understanding emotions of others is fostered by involuntarily mimicking the perceived expressions, causing a "reactivation" of the correspondi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-01, Vol.9 (1), p.e84053-e84053
Main Authors: Künecke, Janina, Hildebrandt, Andrea, Recio, Guillermo, Sommer, Werner, Wilhelm, Oliver
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activation
Adult
Computer simulation
Electromyography
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Facial Expression
Facial Muscles - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Medicine
Mimicry
Muscle contraction
Muscles
Pattern recognition
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Perception
Psychology
Recognition, Psychology - physiology
Simulation
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Young Adult
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Summary:Although most people can identify facial expressions of emotions well, they still differ in this ability. According to embodied simulation theories understanding emotions of others is fostered by involuntarily mimicking the perceived expressions, causing a "reactivation" of the corresponding mental state. Some studies suggest automatic facial mimicry during expression viewing; however, findings on the relationship between mimicry and emotion perception abilities are equivocal. The present study investigated individual differences in emotion perception and its relationship to facial muscle responses - recorded with electromyogram (EMG)--in response to emotional facial expressions. N° = °269 participants completed multiple tasks measuring face and emotion perception. EMG recordings were taken from a subsample (N° = °110) in an independent emotion classification task of short videos displaying six emotions. Confirmatory factor analyses of the m. corrugator supercilii in response to angry, happy, sad, and neutral expressions showed that individual differences in corrugator activity can be separated into a general response to all faces and an emotion-related response. Structural equation modeling revealed a substantial relationship between the emotion-related response and emotion perception ability, providing evidence for the role of facial muscle activation in emotion perception from an individual differences perspective.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0084053