Abstract
Real-life faces are dynamic by nature, particularly when expressing emotion. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays enhances facial mimicry and induces activation in widespread brain structures considered to be part of the mirror neuron system, a neuronal network linked to empathy. The present study is the first to investigate the relations among facial muscle responses, brain activity, and empathy traits while participants observed static and dynamic (videos) facial expressions of fear and disgust. During display presentation, blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal as well as muscle reactions of the corrugator supercilii and levator labii were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals (21 females). It was shown that both fear and disgust faces caused activity in the corrugator supercilii muscle, while perception of disgust produced facial activity additionally in the levator labii muscle, supporting a specific pattern of facial mimicry for these emotions. Moreover, individuals with higher, compared to individuals with lower, empathy traits showed greater activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles; however, these responses were not differentiable between static and dynamic mode. Conversely, neuroimaging data revealed motion and emotional-related brain structures in response to dynamic rather than static stimuli among high empathy individuals. In line with this, there was a correlation between electromyography (EMG) responses and brain activity suggesting that the Mirror Neuron System, the anterior insula and the amygdala might constitute the neural correlates of automatic facial mimicry for fear and disgust. These results revealed that the dynamic property of (emotional) stimuli facilitates the emotional-related processing of facial expressions, especially among whose with high trait empathy.
Highlights
Empathy and Facial MimicryIn the last decade, researchers have focused on empathy as an essential component of human social interaction
There was a correlation between electromyography (EMG) responses and brain activity suggesting that the Mirror Neuron System, the anterior insula and the amygdala might constitute the neural correlates of automatic facial mimicry for fear and disgust. These results revealed that the dynamic property of stimuli facilitates the emotional-related processing of facial expressions, especially among whose with high trait empathy
Our results from study using simultaneously recorded EMG and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals during perception of fear and disgust have confirmed that, to anger and happiness (Likowski et al, 2012; Rymarczyk et al, 2018), the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) may constitute the neuronal bases of facial mimicry (FM)
Summary
Empathy and Facial MimicryIn the last decade, researchers have focused on empathy as an essential component of human social interaction. Paying attention to the other’s emotional state, in turn, leads to the related autonomic and somatic responses (Preston, 2007) Consistent with this model, a positive association between emotional empathy and somatic response was observed for both skin conductance (Levenson and Ruef, 1992; Blair, 1999; Hooker et al, 2008) and cardiac activation (Krebs, 1975; Hastings et al, 2000). This might indicate that more empathic persons react with stronger affective sharing. Recent studies suggest that empathic traits relate to variation in facial mimicry (FM) (Sonnby-Borgström, 2002; Sonnby-Borgström et al, 2003; Dimberg et al, 2011; Balconi and Canavesio, 2013a, 2014; Rymarczyk et al, 2016b)
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