Facial Reactions Research Articles

Mistakes, Too Few to Mention? Impaired Self-conscious Emotional Processing of Errors in the Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia.

Anosognosia, or lack of awareness of one's deficits, is a core feature of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). We hypothesized that this deficit has its origins in failed emotional processing of errors. We studied autonomic and facial emotional reactivity to errors in patients with bvFTD (n = 17), Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 20), and healthy controls (HC, n = 35) during performance of a timed two-alternative-choice button press task. Performance-related behavioral responses to errors were quantified using rates of error correction and post-error slowing of reaction times. Facial emotional responses were measured by monitoring facial reactivity via video and subsequently coding the type, duration and intensity of all emotional reactions. Skin conductance response (SCR) was measured via noninvasive sensors. SCR and total score for each facial emotion expression were quantified for each trial. Facial emotions were grouped into self-conscious (amusement, embarrassment) and negative (fear, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt) emotions. HCs corrected 99.4% of their errors. BvFTD patients corrected 94% (not statistically different compared with HC) and AD corrected 74.8% of their errors (p < 0.05 compared with HC and bvFTD). All groups showed similar post-error slowing. Errors in HCs were associated with greater facial reactivity and SCRs compared with non-error trials, including both negative and self-conscious emotions. BvFTD patients failed to produce self-conscious emotions or an increase in SCR for errors, although they did produce negative emotional responses to a similar degree as HCs. AD showed no deficit in facial reactivity to errors. Although, SCR was generally reduced in AD during error trials, they showed a preserved increase in SCR for errors relative to correct trials. These results demonstrate a specific deficit in emotional responses to errors in bvFTD, encompassing both physiological response and a specific deficit in self-conscious emotions, despite intact awareness and correction of errors. The findings provide a potential mechanism for anosognosia and possibly other behavioral abnormalities in bvFTD and highlight the importance of studying multiple channels of reactivity to errors, including performance related responses and emotional responses, in order to understand how impaired error processing could influence behavior.

Thermal facial reactivity patterns predict social categorization bias triggered by unconscious and conscious emotional stimuli.

Members of highly social species decode, interpret, and react to the emotion of a conspecific depending on whether the other belongs to the same (ingroup) or different (outgroup) social group. While studies indicate that consciously perceived emotional stimuli drive social categorization, information about how implicit emotional stimuli and specific physiological signatures affect social categorization is lacking. We addressed this issue by exploring whether subliminal and supraliminal affective priming can influence the categorization of neutral faces as ingroup versus outgroup. Functional infrared thermal imaging was used to investigate whether the effect of affective priming on the categorization decision was moderated by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). During the subliminal condition, we found that stronger SNS activation after positive or negative affective primes induced ingroup and outgroup face categorization, respectively. The exact opposite pattern (i.e. outgroup after positive and ingroup after negative primes) was observed in the supraliminal condition. We also found that misattribution effects were stronger in people with low emotional awareness, suggesting that this trait moderates how one recognizes SNS signals and employs them for unrelated decisions. Our results allow the remarkable implication that low-level affective reactions coupled with sympathetic activation may bias social categorization.

How am I feeling, machine?

Now that technology is finally getting emotion-savvy, could machines give us the benefit of their new-found wisdom? Rosalind Picard thinks so

A method for the assessment of facial hedonic reactions in newborns

ObjectiveThis study describes a quantitative and qualitative methodology to assess hedonic responses to sweet stimulus in healthy newborns. MethodsA descriptive, cross‐sectional, observational study, with healthy newborns (up to 24h of life), between 37 and 42 gestational weeks, vaginally born and breastfed previously to all tests. The evaluation of the newborns reactions was performed by hedonic facial expression analysis, characterized by facial expressions with rhythmic serial tongue protrusion after neutral or sweet solution intake. Initially, 1mL of water solution was provided to the newborn, followed by a 1‐minute recording. Afterwards, the same amount of 25% sucrose solution was provided, performing a second recording. The concordance between researchers was analyzed by the Bland–Altman statistical method. ResultsA total of 100 newborns (n=49 males, n=51 females; mean lifetime=15h 12min±6h 29min) were recorded for neutral and sucrose solution intake, totaling 197 videos (n=3 missing in the water treatment). These videos were double‐blind analyzed and the test revealed a 90% concordance between the two trained researchers, in relation to both solutions. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.99 for both solutions, with a significant increase in frequency of hedonic expressions evoked by sucrose solution intake. ConclusionsThese results confirm that the proposed method has an efficient power to detect significant differences between neutral and sucrose stimuli. In conclusion, this evaluation method of hedonic facial reactions in newborns reflects the response to a specific taste.

The Relationship between Infant Facial Expressions and Food Acceptance.

To highlight the range of methodological approaches used to objectively measure hedonic responses to taste stimuli during the first year of life and how these behavioral responses change with experience. Challenges inherent to this type of research are discussed. Although newborns display characteristic orofacial reactivity to four of the five basic tastes, the facial expressions made and the amount of food consumed can be modified by experience: children learn to like what they are fed. In some cases changes in facial responses are concordant with infant consumption, whereas in other cases facial reactivity follows changes in intake. Together with ingestive measurements, precise and objective measurements of orofacial reactivity provide an understanding of how early experiences shift the hedonic tone of the taste of foods, the foundation of dietary preferences.

Eye of the Beholder: Stage Entrance Behavior and Facial Expression Affect Continuous Quality Ratings in Music Performance

Judgments of music performance quality are commonly employed in music practice, education, and research. However, previous studies have demonstrated the limited reliability of such judgments, and there is now evidence that extraneous visual, social, and other “non-musical” features can unduly influence them. The present study employed continuous measurement techniques to examine how the process of forming a music quality judgment is affected by the manipulation of temporally specific visual cues. Video footage comprising an appropriate stage entrance and error-free performance served as the standard condition (Video 1). This footage was manipulated to provide four additional conditions, each identical save for a single variation: an inappropriate stage entrance (Video 2); the presence of an aural performance error midway through the piece (Video 3); the same error accompanied by a negative facial reaction by the performer (Video 4); the facial reaction with no corresponding aural error (Video 5). The participants were 53 musicians and 52 non-musicians (N = 105) who individually assessed the performance quality of one of the five randomly assigned videos via a digital continuous measurement interface and headphones. The results showed that participants viewing the “inappropriate” stage entrance made judgments significantly more quickly than those viewing the “appropriate” entrance, and while the poor entrance caused significantly lower initial scores among those with musical training, the effect did not persist long into the performance. The aural error caused an immediate drop in quality judgments that persisted to a lower final score only when accompanied by the frustrated facial expression from the pianist; the performance error alone caused a temporary drop only in the musicians' ratings, and the negative facial reaction alone caused no reaction regardless of participants' musical experience. These findings demonstrate the importance of visual information in forming evaluative and aesthetic judgments in musical contexts and highlight how visual cues dynamically influence those judgments over time.

Facile synthesis of phase-pure Sb8O11Cl2 microrods as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries with high capacity

Antimony oxychloride (Sb8O11Cl2) microrods with the diameter of about 100 nm are synthesized by a facial solvothermal reaction. And the material of Sb8O11Cl2 is applied as an anode material for sodium-ion batteries for the first time. It can deliver 723.4, 500.6, and 425.5 mA h g−1 after 20 cycles under current densities of 10, 30, and 50 mA g−1, respectively. Besides, the rate performance is also surprising (specific capacities of 517.4, 411.6, 247.8, and 191.2 mA h g−1 are achieved at the current densities of 30, 50, 100, and 200 mA g−1, respectively). Furthermore, the Sb8O11Cl2 electrode is of two very appropriate discharge plateaus (0.4 and 1.3 V) during sodiation/desodiation process, which is very critical for the long-term development of the sodium-ion batteries. In this work, a novel electrode material is presented, and it will encourage more researchers to explore Sb8O11Cl2 deeply due to its outstanding capacity and reversible performance.

Applications of Automated Facial Coding in Media Measurement

Facial coding has become a common tool in media measurement, with large companies (e.g., Unilever) using it to test all of their new video ad content. Facial reactions capture the in-the-moment response of an individual and these data complement self-report measures. Two advancements in affective computing have made measurement possible at scale: 1) computer vision algorithms are used to automatically code sign and message judgments based on facial muscle movements, 2) video data are collected by recording responses in everyday environments via the viewer's own webcam over the Internet. We present results of online facial coding studies of video ads, movie trailers, political content, and long-form TV shows. We explain how these data can be used in market research. Despite the ability to measure facial behavior in a scalable and quantifiable way, the interpretation of these data is still challenging without baselines and comparative measures. Over the past four years we have collected and coded over two million responses to everyday media content. Our huge dataset allows us to calculate reliable normative distributions of responses across different media types. We present these data and argue that this provides a context within which to interpret facial responses more accurately.

GENDER-AGE FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF HUMAN PROCESS OF ACHIEVEMENT THE AIM

A comparative analysis of the organization features of process achievement the object with using the method of approaching the aim for preschool children and adults. The research objective was to study the emotional, instrumental responses and «stress index» in process of achievement the aim, approaching with different speeds and different subjective value.Revealed gender-age features of the organization of the functional state of the subjects. Children's reactions were determined emotionally significant factors - speed and value. The verbal instruction of the experimenter determines the actions of adults.The high to low speed modification of the object caused the «collision» of the nervous processesand reflected in changing behavioral and functional state of the subjects. Similar facial reactions identified in response to emotionally significant negative factors in children and women. Unlike women and children, a positive mimic man was observed under the influence of negative stimuli.Summation of negative emotionally significant factors in all subjects regardless of age and sex played a significant role in the organization of heart rate regulation mechanisms.

Asians' Facial Responsiveness to Basic Tastes by Automated Facial Expression Analysis System.

Growing evidence shows that consumer choices in real life are mostly driven by unconscious mechanisms rather than conscious. The unconscious process could be measured by behavioral measurements. This study aims to apply automatic facial expression analysis technique for consumers' emotion representation, and explore the relationships between sensory perception and facial responses. Basic taste solutions (sourness, sweetness, bitterness, umami, and saltiness) with 6 levels plus water were used, which could cover most of the tastes found in food and drink. The other contribution of this study is to analyze the characteristics of facial expressions and correlation between facial expressions and perceptive hedonic liking for Asian consumers. Up until now, the facial expression application researches only reported for western consumers, while few related researches investigated the facial responses during food consuming for Asian consumers. Experimental results indicated that facial expressions could identify different stimuli with various concentrations and different hedonic levels. The perceived liking increased at lower concentrations and decreased at higher concentrations, while samples with medium concentrations were perceived as the most pleasant except sweetness and bitterness. High correlations were founded between perceived intensities of bitterness, umami, saltiness, and facial reactions of disgust and fear. Facial expression disgust and anger could characterize emotion "dislike," and happiness could characterize emotion "like," while neutral could represent "neither like nor dislike." The identified facial expressions agree with the perceived sensory emotions elicited by basic taste solutions. The correlation analysis between hedonic levels and facial expression intensities obtained in this study are in accordance with that discussed for western consumers.

Fetal face as important indicator of fetal brain function.

Fetuses show various facial expressions, such as blinking, yawning, sucking, mouthing, tongue expulsion, scowling, and smiling, assessed by four-dimensional ultrasound from the early second trimester of pregnancy. Moreover, some fetuses demonstrate emotion-like behaviors as noted in infants, children, and adults. Selective fetal responses to stimuli indicate a high degree of brain development, which is reflected in the facial reactions. The fetal face with its movements and expressions can mirror the fetal brain function and development during different stages of the fetus in utero. The fetal face might represent the key to opening the box containing the secrets of fetal brain function and development. Four-dimensional ultrasound may be an important modality in current and future research on fetal facial expressions and assist in the evaluation of the fetal brain function.

Reliability of surface facial electromyography.

Data from two studies were used to estimate the reliability of facial EMG when used to index facial mimicry (Study 1) or affective reactions to pictorial stimuli (Study 2). Results for individual muscle sites varied between muscles and depending on data treatment. For difference scores, acceptable internal consistencies were found only for corrugator supercilii, and test-retest reliabilities were low. For contrast measures describing patterns of reactions to stimuli, such as high zygomaticus major combined with low corrugator supercilii, acceptable internal consistencies were found for facial reactions to smiling faces and positive affective reactions to affiliative images (Study 2). Facial reactions to negative emotions (Study 1) and facial reactions to power and somewhat less to achievement imagery (Study 2) showed unsatisfactory internal consistencies. For contrast measures, good temporal stability over 24 months (Study 1) and 15 months (Study 2), respectively, was obtained. In Study 1, the effect of method factors such as mode of presentation was more reliable than the emotion effect. Overall, people's facial reactions to affective stimuli seem to be influenced by a variety of factors other than the emotion-eliciting element per se, which resulted in biased internal consistency estimates. However, the influence of these factors in turn seemed to be stable over time.

Emotional Empathy and Facial Mimicry for Static and Dynamic Facial Expressions of Fear and Disgust.

Facial mimicry is the tendency to imitate the emotional facial expressions of others. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays leads to enhanced facial mimicry, especially for happiness and anger. However, little is known about the impact of dynamic stimuli on facial mimicry for fear and disgust. To investigate this issue, facial EMG responses were recorded in the corrugator supercilii, levator labii, and lateral frontalis muscles, while participants viewed static (photos) and dynamic (videos) facial emotional expressions. Moreover, we tested whether emotional empathy modulated facial mimicry for emotional facial expressions. In accordance with our predictions, the highly empathic group responded with larger activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles. Moreover, dynamic compared to static facial expressions of fear revealed enhanced mimicry in the high-empathic group in the frontalis and corrugator supercilii muscles. In the low-empathic group the facial reactions were not differentiated between fear and disgust for both dynamic and static facial expressions. We conclude that highly empathic subjects are more sensitive in their facial reactions to the facial expressions of fear and disgust compared to low empathetic counterparts. Our data confirms that personal characteristics, i.e., empathy traits as well as modality of the presented stimuli, modulate the strength of facial mimicry. In addition, measures of EMG activity of the levator labii and frontalis muscles may be a useful index of empathic responses of fear and disgust.

Seeing the world through others’ minds: Inferring social context from behaviour

Past research tells us that individuals can infer information about a target’s emotional state and intentions from their facial expressions (Frith & Frith, 2012), a process known as mentalising. This extends to inferring the events that caused the facial reaction (e.g. Pillai, Sheppard, & Mitchell, 2012; Pillai et al., 2014), an ability known as retrodictive mindreading. Here, we enter new territory by investigating whether or not people (perceivers) can guess a target’s social context by observing their response to stimuli. In Experiment 1, perceivers viewed targets’ responses and were able to determine whether these targets were alone or observed by another person. In Experiment 2, another group of perceivers, without any knowledge of the social context or what the targets were watching, judged whether targets were hiding or exaggerating their facial expressions; and their judgments discriminated between conditions in which targets were observed and alone. Experiment 3 established that another group of perceivers’ judgments of social context were associated with estimations of target expressivity to some degree. In Experiments 1 and 2, the eye movements of perceivers also varied between conditions in which targets were observed and alone. Perceivers were thus able to infer a target’s social context from their visible response. The results demonstrate an ability to use other minds as a window onto a social context that could not be seen directly.

A method for the assessment of facial hedonic reactions in newborns

ObjectiveThis study describes a quantitative and qualitative methodology to assess hedonic responses to sweet stimulus in healthy newborns. MethodsA descriptive, cross-sectional, observational study, with healthy newborns (up to 24h of life), between 37 and 42 gestational weeks, vaginally born and breastfed previously to all tests. The evaluation of the newborns reactions was performed by hedonic facial expression analysis, characterized by facial expressions with rhythmic serial tongue protrusion after neutral or sweet solution intake. Initially, 1mL of water solution was provided to the newborn, followed by a 1-minute recording. Afterwards, the same amount of 25% sucrose solution was provided, performing a second recording. The concordance between researchers was analyzed by the Bland–Altman statistical method. ResultsA total of 100 newborns (n=49 males, n=51 females; mean lifetime=15h 12min±6h 29min) were recorded for neutral and sucrose solution intake, totaling 197 videos (n=3 missing in the water treatment). These videos were double-blind analyzed and the test revealed a 90% concordance between the two trained researchers, in relation to both solutions. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.99 for both solutions, with a significant increase in frequency of hedonic expressions evoked by sucrose solution intake. ConclusionsThese results confirm that the proposed method has an efficient power to detect significant differences between neutral and sucrose stimuli. In conclusion, this evaluation method of hedonic facial reactions in newborns reflects the response to a specific taste.

Untrustworthiness inhibits congruent facial reactions to happy faces

This study investigated how trustworthiness modulates facial reactions to emotional faces, specifically emotional mimicry. In order to manipulate the trustworthiness of others, we used the trust game. The participants (N=37) perceived the partners as trustworthy or untrustworthy based on whether the partners tended to behave fairly or unfairly in the game with a within-subjects design. Facial electromyograms were measured while viewing the emotional faces displayed by the partners. The results demonstrated that the zygomaticus major activity in response to happy faces was greater for the trustworthy partners than for the untrustworthy partners. The results suggest that emotional mimicry of happiness is more inhibited for those who are non-affiliative and unfavorable, such as the untrustworthy partners. On the other hand, there was no effect of trustworthiness on congruent facial reactions to sad and angry faces. However, the zygomaticus major activity for angry faces was smaller for the trustworthy partners than for the untrustworthy partners, suggesting that positive expressions to angry faces of the trustworthy partners are inhibited. Trustworthiness constructed by social exchange modulates not only emotional mimicry for happy faces but also incongruent facial reactions to angry faces.

Emotional expressiveness of 5–6 month-old infants born very premature versus full-term at initial exposure to weaning foods

Facial expressions of 5–6 month-old infants born preterm and at term were compared while tasting for the first time solid foods (two fruit and two vegetable purées) given by the mother. Videotapes of facial reactions to these foods were objectively coded during the first six successive spoons of each test food using Baby FACS and subjectively rated by naïve judges. Infant temperament was also assessed by the parents using the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, infants born preterm expressed fewer negative emotions than infants born full-term. Naïve judges rated infants born preterm as displaying more liking than their full-term counterparts when tasting the novel foods. The analysis of facial expressions during the six spoonfuls of four successive meals (at 1-week intervals) suggested a familiarization effect with the frequency of negative expressions decreasing after tasting the second spoon, regardless of infant age, type of food and order of presentation. Finally, positive and negative dimensions of temperament reported by the parents were related with objective and subjective coding of affective reactions toward foods in infants born preterm or full-term. Our research indicates that premature infants are more accepting of novel foods than term infants and this could be used for supporting the development of healthy eating patterns in premature infants. Further research is needed to clarify whether reduced negativity by infants born prematurely to the exposure to novel solid foods reflects a reduction of an adaptive avoidant behaviour during the introduction of novel foods.

Hedonic and motivational responses to food reward are unchanged in rats with neuropathic pain.

Rewards influence responses to acute painful stimuli, but the relationship of chronic pain to hedonic or motivational aspects of reward is not well understood. We independently evaluated hedonic qualities of sweet or bitter tastants and motivation to seek food reward in rats with experimental neuropathic pain induced by L5/6 spinal nerve ligation. Hedonic response was measured by implantation of intraoral catheters to allow passive delivery of liquid solutions, and "liking/disliking" responses were scored according to a facial reactivity scale. Spinal nerve ligation rats did not differ from controls in either "liking" or "disliking" reactions to intraoral sucrose or quinine, respectively, at postsurgery day 21, suggesting no differences in perceived hedonic value of sweet or bitter tastants. To assess possible motivational deficits during acute and chronic pain, we used fixed- and progressive-ratio response paradigms of sucrose pellet presentation in rats with transient inflammatory or chronic neuropathic pain. Assessment of response acquisition and break points under the progressive ratio schedule revealed no differences between sham and spinal nerve ligation rats for up to 120 days after injury. However, rats with inflammation showed decrements in lever pressing and break points on days 1 and 2 after complete Freund adjuvant injection that normalized by day 4, consistent with transient ongoing pain. Thus, although acute ongoing inflammatory pain may transiently reduce reward motivation, we did not detect influences of chronic neuropathic pain on hedonic or motivational responses to food rewards. Adaptations that allow normal reward responding to food regardless of chronic pain may be of evolutionary benefit to promote survival.

EP 24. Contralateral smiles induced by deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens region in a patient with major depressive disorder

Introduction Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a well-established procedure for the treatment of therapy-refractory movement disorders. Limited evidence suggests that DBS of the nucleus accumbens region (NACC) may be effective for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD). Hitherto, little is known concerning behavioural responses upon acute high-frequency stimulation of the NACC region in patients suffering from MDD. Objective To further characterize behavioural responses and clinical effects elicited upon acute unilateral DBS of the NACC area. Intra- and postoperative observations (including video-sequences) as well as a two-month outcome are presented. Material and Methods We performed bilateral NACC-DBS in a female patient (age: 47) with MDD refractory to psycho-, pharmaco- and electroconvulsive (>50 sessions) therapy on a compassionate-use basis. The stereotactic procedure was performed under local anaesthesia. The NACC was targeted (x) 7 mm lateral to the midline, (y) 3 mm anterior to the anterior commissure, (z) 4 mm below the anterior commissure-posterior commissure plane. A commercially available DBS lead with 4 contacts (model 3391, Medtronic Co., MN, USA; contact length: 3 mm; interelectrode distance: 4 mm) was inserted bilaterally for permanent stimulation. Results Upon test-stimulation in the operating room, acute unilateral NACC-DBS on both hemispheres stereotypically induced a visible facial reaction with a contralateral smile (bipolar stimulation of the ventralmost contacts (0− cathodal vs. 1+ anodal); pulse width: 90 μs; frequency: 130 Hz). This smile could repeatedly be elicited either when stimulation amplitude was slowly ramped up to 7 mA, or abruptly switched on to 4–5 mA. The smile was invariably associated with a significantly improved mood (as assessed by an analog scale). This effect was documented by different examiners and clearly reproducible in the subsequent clinical course. A dramatic improvement of the depression scores, patient’s mood and social behaviour was documented at a first follow-up (6 weeks postoperatively). Conclusion Albeit preliminary, the patient’s beneficial response tentatively suggests that NACC-DBS may be a viable option for selected patients with MDD. In line with previous reports on stimulation-induced smile responses in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, our intraoperative observations support and expand the notion of the NACC area constituting or containing an important interface between limbic and motor networks, respectively, that may be involved in the pathophysiology of MDD. It is suggested that the results of long-term NACC-DBS in patients with MDD should be evaluated by larger patient samples and randomized, controlled trials.

Application of hedonic dynamics using multiple-sip temporal-liking and facial expression for evaluation of a new beverage

Drinking and eating are not a matter of a single sip or bite. Dynamic data gathered from multiple sip or bite, seem to be more reliable than simple sip/bite evaluation. However, methodologies and analyses based on multiple sips/bites have received little attention until recently. The present study tested an innovative approach to measure the temporal changes in acceptance. It combines multiple-sip temporal-liking measurements (MSTL) with implicit taste reactivity using facial pattern expressions at different time points, for evaluation of a new beverage. Seventy-three consumers (35 females and 38 males) evaluated acceptance during 60s, drinking three sips, with each sip every 20s. The consumers’ faces were filmed by a camera during the test session in order to analyze facial affective reactions. The results of the present paper show that MSTL modality allows seeing temporal changes in the acceptance of the beverage. Parameters analyzed maximum intensity (Imax) and area under the curve (AUC) in self-reported response curves presented variation through successive sips. The self-rated liking increased from the first sip to the third. In the same way facial expressions also showed a change over time during successive sips. In this case, the basic emotion of disgust, unpleasantness-related Action Units (AUs; AU 26 and AU 15) and negative valence showed a decrease from the first sip to the third one. It was observed that negative facial reactions are greater than the positive facial reactions in intensity.