Emotional Mimicry Research Articles

Infant Emotional Mimicry of Strangers: Associations with Parent Emotional Mimicry, Parent-Infant Mutual Attention, and Parent Dispositional Affective Empathy.

Emotional mimicry, the tendency to automatically and spontaneously reproduce others’ facial expressions, characterizes human social interactions from infancy onwards. Yet, little is known about the factors modulating its development in the first year of life. This study investigated infant emotional mimicry and its association with parent emotional mimicry, parent-infant mutual attention, and parent dispositional affective empathy. One hundred and seventeen parent-infant dyads (51 six-month-olds, 66 twelve-month-olds) were observed during video presentation of strangers’ happy, sad, angry, and fearful faces. Infant and parent emotional mimicry (i.e., facial expressions valence-congruent to the video) and their mutual attention (i.e., simultaneous gaze at one another) were systematically coded second-by-second. Parent empathy was assessed via self-report. Path models indicated that infant mimicry of happy stimuli was positively and independently associated with parent mimicry and affective empathy, while infant mimicry of sad stimuli was related to longer parent-infant mutual attention. Findings provide new insights into infants’ and parents’ coordination of mimicry and attention during triadic contexts of interactions, endorsing the social-affiliative function of mimicry already present in infancy: emotional mimicry occurs as an automatic parent-infant shared behavior and early manifestation of empathy only when strangers’ emotional displays are positive, and thus perceived as affiliative.

Facial emotion mimicry in older adults with and without cognitive impairments due to Alzheimer's disease.

Facial expression of humans is one of the main channels of everyday communication. The reported research work investigated communication regarding the pattern of emotional expression of healthy older adults and with mild cognitive impairments (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD). It focuses on mimicking of displayed emotional facial expression on a sample of 25 older adults (healthy, MCI and AD patients). The adequacy of the patients' individual facial expressions in six basic emotions was measured with the Kinect 3D recording of the participants' facial expressions and compared to their own typical emotional facial expressions. The reactions were triggered by mimicking 49 still pictures of emotional facial expressions. No statistically significant differences in terms of frequency nor adequacy of emotional facial expression were reported in healthy and MCI groups. Unique patterns of emotional expressions have been observed in the AD group. Further investigating the pattern of older adults' facial expression may decrease the misunderstandings and increase the quality of life of the patients.

Electromyographic evidence of reduced emotion mimicry in individuals with a history of non-suicidal self-injury.

Engaging in facial emotion mimicry during social interactions encourages empathy and functions as a catalyst for interpersonal bonding. Decreased reflexive mirroring of facial expressions has been observed in individuals with different non-psychotic disorders, relative to healthy controls. Given reports of interpersonal relationship difficulties experienced by those who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), it is of interest to explore facial emotion mimicry in individuals with a history of this behaviour (HNSSI). Among other things, this will enable us to better understand their emotion regulation and social interaction challenges. Surface facial electromyography (fEMG) was used to record the reflexive facial mimicry of 30 HNSSI and 30 controls while they passively observed a series of dynamic facial stimuli showing various facial expressions of emotion. Beginning with a neutral expression, the stimuli quickly morphed to one of 6 prototypic emotional expressions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, or sadness). Mimicry was assessed by affixing surface electrodes to facial muscles known to exhibit a high degree of electrical activity in response to positive and negative emotions: the corrugator supercilii and the zygomaticus major. HNSSI participants, relative to controls, exhibited significantly less electrical activity in the corrugator muscle in response to viewing angry stimuli, and significantly less of an expected relaxation in muscle activity in response to viewing happy stimuli. Mirroring these results, greater endorsement of social influence as a motivator for engaging in NSSI was associated with less mimicry, and greater endorsement of emotion regulation as a motivator was associated with greater incongruent muscle response when viewing happy faces. These findings lend support to the theory that social interaction difficulties in HNSSI might be related to implicit violations of expected social rules exhibited through facial mimicry nonconformity.

The effect of eye gaze direction on emotional mimicry: A multimodal study with electromyography and electroencephalography

Emotional mimicry plays an important role in social interaction and is influenced by social context, especially eye gaze direction. However, the neural mechanism underlying the effect of eye gaze direction on emotional mimicry is unclear. Here, we explored how eye gaze direction influenced emotional mimicry with a combination of electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG) techniques, which may provide a more comprehensive measure. To do this, we recorded facial EMG and scalp EEG signals simultaneously while participants observed emotional faces (happy vs. angry) with direct or averted gaze. Then, we split the EEG trials into two mimicry intensity categories (high mimicry intensity, HMI vs. low mimicry intensity, LMI) according to EMG activity. The ERP difference between HMI and LMI EEG trials revealed four ERP components (P50, P150, N200 and P300), and the effect of eye gaze direction on emotional mimicry was prominent on P300 at P7 and P8. Moreover, we also observed differences in the effect of eye gaze direction on mimicry of happy faces and angry faces, which were found on P300 at P7, as well as P150 at P7 and N200 at P7 and Pz. In short, the present study isolated the neural signals of emotional mimicry with a new multimodal method, and provided empirical neural evidence that eye gaze direction affected emotional mimicry.

Laughing at funerals and frowning at weddings: Top-down influences of context-driven social judgments on emotional mimicry

This research aimed to assess top-down effects of social judgments on (facial) emotional mimicry. Based on the mimicry as social regulator model (Hess & Fischer, 2013) and the notion that people can use emotion expressions as cues to an expresser's traits (Hareli & Hess, 2010), we predicted that participants judge expressers who show affectively deviant expressions more negatively, feel less close to them and, thus, show reduced mimicry. Participants saw smiles and sad expressions embedded in either a wedding or funeral scene (or neutral control). In Study 1, affectively deviant expressions were rated as inappropriate and led to less self-reported interpersonal closeness to the expresser.In Study 2, both happiness and sadness mimicry were affected by the normativeness of the expression. However, the specific effect varied. Participants mimicked both deviant and normative happy expressions only when they felt close to the expresser. However, in the case of deviant expressions, closeness was lower. When participants did not feel close to the expresser, their expression was neutral, that is, they did not mimic. Sadness was only mimicked when appropriate to the context, that is, when deemed a legitimate response and a valid appeal for help, regardless of closeness. In this sense, facial mimicry of sadness expression can be considered an empathic reaction. In sum, the present research shows strong evidence for a top-down effect of social judgments on mimicry. It further suggests that this effect differed as a function of emotion expression and the meaning and social appeal conveyed by that expression.

A combined fMRI and EMG study of emotional contagion following partial sleep deprivation in young and older humans

Sleep deprivation is proposed to inhibit top-down-control in emotion processing, but it is unclear whether sleep deprivation affects emotional mimicry and contagion. Here, we aimed to investigate effects of partial sleep deprivation on emotional contagion and mimicry in young and older humans. Participants underwent partial sleep deprivation (3 h sleep opportunity at the end of night), crossed-over with a full sleep condition in a balanced order, followed by a functional magnetic resonance imaging and electromyography (EMG) experiment with viewing of emotional and neutral faces and ratings of emotional responses. The final sample for main analyses was n = 69 (n = 36 aged 20–30 years, n = 33 aged 65–75 years). Partial sleep deprivation caused decreased activation in fusiform gyri for angry faces and decreased ratings of happiness for all stimuli, but no significant effect on the amygdala. Older participants reported more anger compared to younger participants, but no age differences were seen in brain responses to emotional faces or sensitivity to partial sleep deprivation. No effect of the sleep manipulation was seen on EMG. In conclusion, emotional contagion, but not mimicry, was affected by sleep deprivation. Our results are consistent with the previously reported increased negativity bias after insufficient sleep.The Stockholm sleepy brain study: effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive and emotional processing in young and old. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02000076.

Spouses\u2019 faces are similar but do not become more similar with time

The widely disseminated convergence in physical appearance hypothesis posits that long-term partners’ facial appearance converges with time due to their shared environment, emotional mimicry, and synchronized activities. Although plausible, this hypothesis is incompatible with empirical findings pertaining to a wide range of other traits—such as personality, intelligence, attitudes, values, and well-being—in which partners show initial similarity but do not converge over time. We solve this conundrum by reexamining this hypothesis using the facial images of 517 couples taken at the beginning of their marriages and 20 to 69 years later. Using two independent methods of estimating their facial similarity (human judgment and a facial recognition algorithm), we show that while spouses’ faces tend to be similar at the beginning of marriage, they do not converge over time, bringing facial appearance in line with other personal characteristics.

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

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.

Who to whom and why: The social nature of emotional mimicry.

The goal of this manuscript is to provide support for the notion that emotional mimicry is a social act. For this, I will provide a brief overview of recent developments in the domain of emotional mimicry research. I will present the mimicry in social context model of mimicry and evidence for four predictions that set this theory apart. Specifically, based on a review of the literature on emotional mimicry, I conclude that we do not mimic the specific muscle movements we observe, but rather we mimic what we infer from these movements. Furthermore, emotional mimicry only occurs when the expresser and observer share the intention to affiliate. Hence, we are less likely to mimic strangers and do not mimic people we do not like. Interactions in which affiliative mimicry occurs are perceived as more positive, but interactions in which mimicry is antagonistic as more negative. This supports the three social functions proposed here: Affiliation, Emotional understanding, and Social regulation.

Right Temporoparietal Junction Modulates In-Group Bias in Facial Emotional Mimicry: A tDCS Study.

The present study employs transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, to explore the possible role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in regulating in-group bias in facial emotional mimicry. Participants received either anodal or cathodal stimulation, or they were assigned to a sham condition. After that, they passively viewed a series of video clips depicting different emotions (happiness and anger) that were performed either by ethnic in-group or out-group models. The emotion-specific muscle activities, zygomatic major (ZM) and corrugator supercilii (CS) were recorded simultaneously as the index of facial emotional mimicry. The results first confirm the in-group bias in facial emotional mimicry in the sham condition, as shown in prior studies, though it only occurs in happy mimicry. Moreover, the in-group bias in facial emotional mimicry is modulated by the cortical excitability over the rTPJ, which may be attributed to the accompanied change of overlap of the mental representations of in-group and out-group. This study provides a close look at the neural underpinning of the modulation of facial emotional mimicry by group membership and highlights the role of rTPJ in on-line control of co-activated self and other representations in social cognition.

Masked education? The benefits and burdens of wearing face masks in schools during the current Corona pandemic.

Face masks can prevent the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2, in particular as this spread can occur from people with no symptoms. However, covering the lower half of the face reduces the ability to communicate, interpret, and mimic the expressions of those with whom we interact. Positive emotions become less recognizable, and negative emotions are amplified. Emotional mimicry, contagion, and emotionality in general are reduced and (thereby) bonding between teachers and learners, group cohesion, and learning – of which emotions are a major driver. The benefits and burdens of face masks in schools should be seriously considered and made obvious and clear to teachers and students. The school's specific situation must also inform any decision regarding face mask use.

Imitation recognition and its prosocial effects in 6-month old infants.

The experience of being imitated is theorised to be a driving force of infant social cognition, yet evidence on the emergence of imitation recognition and the effects of imitation in early infancy is disproportionately scarce. To address this lack of empirical evidence, in a within-subjects study we compared the responses of 6-month old infants when exposed to ipsilateral imitation as opposed to non-imitative contingent responding. To examine mediating mechanisms of imitation recognition, infants were also exposed to contralateral imitation and bodily imitation with suppressed emotional mimicry. We found that testing behaviours-the hallmark of high-level imitation recognition-occurred at significantly higher rates in each of the imitation conditions compared to the contingent responding condition. Moreover, when being imitated, infants showed higher levels of attention, smiling and approach behaviours compared to the contingent responding condition. The suppression of emotional mimicry moderated these results, leading to a decrease in all social responsiveness measures. The results show that imitation engenders prosocial effects in 6-month old infants and that infants at this age reliably show evidence of implicit and high-level imitation recognition. In turn, the latter can be indicative of infants' sensitivity to others' intentions directed toward them.

Cultural development of empathy-identification and empathy-modeling

Background. The article develops the concept of the originality of the functions, structure and genesis of empathy-identification (EI) and empathy-modeling (EM). EI is viewed as a psychological tool for organizing joint activities such as a mono-role coalition, which has developed in anthropogenesis, and consists in the ability to appropriate the emotional states of another person. In contrast, EM is a cultural technology for maintaining joint activity such as poly-role coordination, which requires the subject of activity to create and maintain in consciousness a dynamic representation of the mental state of another person while maintaining the authenticity of awareness of his own mental state. A consequence of the conceptual separation of EO and EM is the provision of two non-matching lines of their development in ontogenesis. Objective. The aim of the article is to explicate the qualitative uniqueness of EI and EM as higher mental functions in relation to the social situation of their development and the arsenal of ideal forms, cultural means and technologies that set the content and trajectory of this development. Design. From the standpoint of cultural-evolutionary and activity-based approaches, a conceptual analysis of literature relevant to the connotative field of the proposed constructs of EI (affective empathy, emotional contamination, emotional mimicry, imitation) and EM (theory of the mental, everyday psychology, mentalization, emotional intelligence) as well as the analysis of EI and EM constructs from the point of view of cultural determination of their development in ontogenesis was performed. Results. It has been substantiated that EI is formed in the process of dyadic joint experience with an adult of various mental states, which an adult presents first in a visual way, and then verbally. Further development of EI takes place in play activities that include imagination. EI rarely reaches the level of complete voluntary regulation and needs to rely on external cultural means. EM is derived from the dialogical nature of human thinking. In ontogeny, EM is formed along two converging lines. On the one hand, mastering the mental vocabulary serves as the basis of “emotional literacy”, and, on the other hand, EM is the result of the interiorization of a specific social and communicative position — the autonomization of an adult as a mental agent in the third person. The role-playing game with the subjective “animation” of the toy is of particular importance for the development of EM. At an older age, various forms of dramatization, in particular theatrical activity, act as cultural practices for the development of EM. Conclusions. The results of the work showed that EI and EM have different sources, driving forces, ideal forms and socio-cultural technologies of formation. The originality of the lines of cultural determination of the development of EI and EM is associated with the difference in their functional role in organizing joint activities.

What’s the value of a star? Actor familiarity and likeability effects on emotional mimicry of cinematic displays

Abstract Researchers and practitioners have long been intrigued by the role of stars in the film industry (McDonald 2005). Actors with star status can enhance the economic prospects of a film (Wallace et al. 1993). For instance, replacing average stars with top stars has been shown to increase revenue (Nelson, Glotfelty 2012). A meta-analysis of 61 studies collating data from 1545 films has shown the significant effect of commercial star power on Hollywood films’ revenues (Hofmann, et al. 2017). The Hollywood movie industry can be viewed as a system that maintains and regulates the popularity of existing and emerging stars through agents, producers and award systems (McDonald 2013).

Emotional reactions to dynamic morphed facial expressions: A new method to induce emotional contagion

In the current study, we tested the utility of a new method developed to study emotional contagion (i.e., the transfer of emotional states between people). Inspired by studies on emotional mimicry – a process that has been postulated as one of the main mechanisms leading to emotional contagion, we created a set of videos showing morphed facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger. Following exposure to each video, participants rated their emotions. Our findings demonstrated that the videos evoked congruent emotions in viewers, thereby supporting the notion that dynamic morphed facial expressions may be effective “emotionally contagious” stimuli. Additionally, in line with the previous studies and classic theories of emotional contagion, the displays of anger evoked a complementary reaction of fear.

Mimicking Others’ Nonverbal Signals is Associated with Increased Attitude Contagion

Observing nonverbal signals being directed toward unfamiliar individuals is known to influence attitudes and behavior toward those individuals. Specifically, observing biased nonverbal signals in favor of one individual over another can produce nonverbal signal-consistent attitudes among preschool children. Research has also shown that people have a tendency to mimic the behavior of others. The phenomenon of mimicking another’s nonverbal emotional response and “catching” their emotions has long been established. However, it has yet to be examined whether this phenomenon is associated with attitude contagion. We hypothesized that preschool children who mimic the biased nonverbal signals of others will be more likely to adopt their social attitudes. Results of the current study indicated that as emotional mimicry became more frequent, children showed an increasingly greater probability of acquiring nonverbal signal-consistent attitudes. Moreover, the frequency of negative—but not positive—emotional mimicry was related to an increased probability of showing nonverbal signal-consistent attitudes. Our findings provide initial support for the notion that mimicking others’ biased nonverbal signals may help facilitate attitude contagion.

Are Those Who Tend to Mimic Facial Expressions Especially Vulnerable to Emotional Contagion?

The aim of the present study was to test the classic but under-researched hypothesis that individual differences in automatic emotional mimicry are positively related to individual differences in emotional contagion. To tap automatic mimicry and automatic emotional contagion, participants were exposed to affective stimuli with either a positive or negative valence (faces with a happy expression, n = 73; faces with a sad expression, n = 73) while their attention was directed toward nonaffective features of the stimuli. Emotional mimicry was measured with EMG (Corrugator, Zygomaticus). On average, in the sad emotional expression condition, participants’ mood worsened, but the happy emotional expression condition did not evoke a general positive emotional contagion effect (across participants). Multigroup multilevel latent difference models revealed that in the sad emotional expression condition, individual differences in Corrugator activity were related to a larger increase in unpleasant mood, and in the happy emotional expression condition, individual differences in Zygomaticus activity were related to a larger decrease in unpleasant mood. That is, results of this study provided support for the mimicry-contagion link.

The role of oxytocin in the facial mimicry of affiliative vs. non-affiliative emotions

The present paper builds upon a growing body of work documenting oxytocin’s role in social functioning, to test whether this hormone facilitates spontaneous mimicry of others’ emotional expressions. In a double-blind, randomized trial, adult Caucasian males (n = 145) received a nasal spray of either oxytocin or placebo before completing a facial mimicry task. Facial expressions were coded using automated face analysis. Oxytocin increased mimicry of facial features of sadness (lips and chin, but not areas around the eyes), an affiliative reaction that facilitates social bonding. Oxytocin also increased mimicry of happiness, but only for individuals who expressed low levels of happiness in response to neutral faces. Overall, participants did not reliably mimic expressions of fear and anger, echoing recent theoretical accounts of emotional mimicry as dependent on the social context. In sum, our findings suggest that oxytocin facilitates emotional mimicry in ways that are conducive to affiliation, pointing to a possible pathway through which oxytocin promotes social bonding.

Broadening the Perspective on Emotional Contagion and Emotional Mimicry: The Correction Hypothesis

Emotional contagion has long been conceptualized as the automatic transfer of affective states between people, similar to the spread of diseases. New evidence, however, has challenged this view by demonstrating that emotions, contrary to diseases, spread selectively rather than blindly because their transfer is controlled by social factors. Here, we take a closer look at this top-down social control of emotional contagion. We review literature on the moderating role of social factors in emotional contagion and emotional mimicry, a process often considered a basic mechanism of emotional contagion. We argue that top-down social processes controlling emotional mimicry may be explained by the correction hypothesis formulated to account for contrast effects in priming research. We also analyze whether similar corrective processes may be involved in less automatic mechanisms of emotional contagion, such as social appraisal. Finally, we propose that the modulating effects of social factors on emotional contagion and its mechanisms, similar to priming effects, may be interpreted within the framework of dual-process theories.

Difference between caregiver and victim reported early life stressors on physiological responses: A meta-analytic review

The present paper builds upon a growing body of work documenting oxytocin’s role in social functioning, to test whether this hormone facilitates spontaneous mimicry of others’ emotional expressions. In a double-blind, randomized trial, adult Caucasian males (n = 145) received a nasal spray of either oxytocin or placebo before completing a facial mimicry task. Facial expressions were coded using automated face analysis. Oxytocin increased mimicry of facial features of sadness (lips and chin, but not areas around the eyes), an affiliative reaction that facilitates social bonding. Oxytocin also increased mimicry of happiness, but only for individuals who expressed low levels of happiness in response to neutral faces. Overall, participants did not reliably mimic expressions of fear and anger, echoing recent theoretical accounts of emotional mimicry as dependent on the social context. In sum, our findings suggest that oxytocin facilitates emotional mimicry in ways that are conducive to affiliation, pointing to a possible pathway through which oxytocin promotes social bonding.