Abstract
The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial actions modulate subjective experiences of emotion. Using the voluntary facial action technique, in which the participants react with instruction induced smiles and frowns when exposed to positive and negative emotional pictures and then rate the pleasantness of these stimuli, four questions were addressed in the present study. The results in Experiment 1 demonstrated a feedback effect because participants experienced the stimuli as more pleasant during smiling as compared to when frowning. However, this effect was present only during the critical actions of smiling and frowning, with no remaining effects after 5 min or after 1 day. In Experiment 2, feedback effects were found only when the facial action (smile/frown) was incongruent with the presented emotion (positive/negative), demonstrating attenuating but not enhancing modulation. Finally, no difference in the intensity of produced feedback effect was found between smiling and frowning, and no difference in feedback effect was found between positive and negative emotions. In conclusion, facial feedback appears to occur mainly during actual facial actions, and primarily attenuate ongoing emotional states.
Highlights
The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial actions modulate subjective experiences of emotion
The aim of the experiment was to investigate if the effect of facial feedback actions remained to affect us at a later time
It is possible that these differences could account for the diverging results, and the most likely explanation would be that any remaining effects were abolished by the distraction tasks
Summary
The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial actions modulate subjective experiences of emotion. The results in Experiment 1 demonstrated a feedback effect because participants experienced the stimuli as more pleasant during smiling as compared to when frowning. In Experiment 2, feedback effects were found only when the facial action (smile/frown) was incongruent with the presented emotion (positive/negative), demonstrating attenuating but not enhancing modulation. Empirical research has found that facial feedback has the ability to both modulate present emotions and to initiate emotions (for reviews see Adelmann and Zajonc 1989; Buck 1980; McIntosh 1996) This has been firmly established for happiness and anger and the corresponding facial expressions (e.g., Dimberg and Soderkvist 2011; Laird 1974; Rutledge and Hupka 1985). That study found that effects of facial feedback actions could be detected several minutes later, a result that calls for further research
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