Enhanced emotional and motor responses to live versus videotaped dynamic facial expressions

Chun-Ting Hsu,Wataru Sato,Sakiko Yoshikawa

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-73826-2

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.

Highlights

Facial expression is an integral aspect of non-verbal communication of affective information
The researchers designed a liquid crystal (LC) shutter system that switched between transparent and opaque to control the timing of participants’ exposure to models who were making eye contact or averting their gaze in real time[21]. Their findings indicated that differences in zygomaticus major (ZM) activity while viewing a static smiling versus a neutral facial expression were observed only when the participants believed that they were being watched by the m odel[22]
Random effects included by-subject random intercepts and random slopes for the effect of emotion and presentation condition to account for the within-subjects design, which was determined by means of model comparisons

Summary

Introduction

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 Such highly controlled experimental procedures may lack the vividness of reallife social interactions. The researchers designed a liquid crystal (LC) shutter system that switched between transparent and opaque to control the timing of participants’ exposure to models who were making eye contact or averting their gaze in real time[21] Their findings indicated that differences in ZM activity while viewing a static smiling versus a neutral facial expression were observed only when the participants believed that they were being watched by the m odel[22]. The study used static (rather than dynamic) facial expressions as stimuli, despite previous studies’[7,8] suggestions that dynamic facial expressions would be more effective for investigating the effects of live interactions on subjective emotion perception and facial mimicry

Methods

Results

Conclusion