Sex Differences Found in Facial EMG Activity Provoked by Viewing Pleasant and Unpleasant Photographs

50 male and 50 female participants' facial electromyographic (EMG) activity at the left corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions and self-reports of emotions were recorded while they were viewing Pleasant and Unpleasant photographs. Analysis showed that the ratio of EMG power between the periods...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perceptual and motor skills 2009-10, Vol.109 (2), p.371-381
Main Authors: Huang, Hsin-Yu, Hu, Senqi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Affect - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Electromyography
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Face - physiology
Facial Expression
Facial Muscles - physiology
Female
Gender differences
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motor ability
Muscular system
Photic Stimulation
Sex Characteristics
Social psychology
Visual Perception - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:50 male and 50 female participants' facial electromyographic (EMG) activity at the left corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions and self-reports of emotions were recorded while they were viewing Pleasant and Unpleasant photographs. Analysis showed that the ratio of EMG power between the periods of photograph viewing and baseline at the zygomatic muscle region was significantly higher than that at the corrugator muscle region while viewing Pleasant photographs and that the EMG ratio at the corrugator muscle region was significantly higher than that at the zygomatic muscle region while viewing Unpleasant photographs. Further analysis indicated that compared to men, women reported relatively higher feelings of pleasantness and generated significantly higher EMG ratios at the zygomatic muscle region while viewing Pleasant photographs and women reported significantly less feelings of pleasantness and generated significantly higher EMG ratios at the corrugator muscle region while viewing Unpleasant photographs. These results demonstrate the sex effects on emotion expression and associated EMG responses while viewing emotion provoking photographs.
ISSN:0031-5125
1558-688X
DOI:10.2466/pms.109.2.371-381