Abstract
Facial mimicry is the spontaneous response to others’ facial expressions by mirroring or matching the interaction partner. Recent evidence suggested that mimicry may not be only an automatic reaction but could be dependent on many factors, including social context, type of task in which the participant is engaged, or stimulus properties (dynamic vs static presentation). In the present study, we investigated the impact of dynamic facial expression and sex differences on facial mimicry and judgment of emotional intensity. Electromyography recordings were recorded from the corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, and orbicularis oculi muscles during passive observation of static and dynamic images of happiness and anger. The ratings of the emotional intensity of facial expressions were also analysed. As predicted, dynamic expressions were rated as more intense than static ones. Compared to static images, dynamic displays of happiness also evoked stronger activity in the zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi, suggesting that subjects experienced positive emotion. No muscles showed mimicry activity in response to angry faces. Moreover, we found that women exhibited greater zygomaticus major muscle activity in response to dynamic happiness stimuli than static stimuli. Our data support the hypothesis that people mimic positive emotions and confirm the importance of dynamic stimuli in some emotional processing.
Highlights
The perception and interpretation of emotional facial expressions is crucial for appropriate behaviour in social contexts
The present study examined facial mimicry and judgement of emotional intensity in dynamic emotional facial expressions
We found that all muscle responses to happy stimuli measured by EMG differed from analogous responses to angry stimuli
Summary
The perception and interpretation of emotional facial expressions is crucial for appropriate behaviour in social contexts. Perception of others’ emotional facial expressions automatically evokes the same behaviour in the perceiver, and the facial expression is spontaneously copied. This idea is consistent with results of some neuroimaging studies, which have shown that both perception and execution of the same action engage overlapping areas called the mirror neuron system (MNS) [7,8,9,10]. Carr, Iacobbini, Dubeau, Mazziotta & Lenzi [11], using a paradigm in which subjects had to observe and imitate static displays of several basic emotions, found activation of both the inferior frontal gyrus and posterior parietal cortex, supporting the involvement of the MNS in understanding facial expressions
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