Gender differences in the neural network of facial mimicry of smiles – An rTMS study

Korb, Sebastian; Malsert, Jennifer; Rochas, Vincent; Rihs, Tonia A.; Rieger, Sebastian Walter; Schwab, Samir; Niedenthal, Paula M.; Grandjean, Didier

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.06.025

Cited by 61 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Importantly, Niedenthal and colleagues' three studies (2012) consistently showed that the associations of pacifier use with decreases in these skills were found only in boys and young men. The authors interpret these gender differences in light of the existing literature on sex differences in emotional socialization: the development of emotion competences is generally slower and more fragile in men than in women (Zahn-Waxler et al, 1992;Brody, 2000;Korb et al, 2015). In addition, evidence shows that females tend to recognize emotion expressions more accurately than males (e.g.…”

Section: Pacifiers and Emotional Competence Of Young Adultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…In addition, facial mimicry is only a part of sensorimotor processes (Wood et al, 2016), and the ability to simulate a movement may be more important than performing it. Such interpretation is supported by evidence that inhibiting the activity of primary motor brain regions, which are involved in generating facial mimicry, disrupts the recognition of smiles to a greater extent than inhibiting the activity of somatosensory brain areas, which are arguably involved in receiving feedback from the face (Korb et al, 2015). Altogether, sensorimotor simulation is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon that needs further exploration given its importance in social learning (e.g.…”

Section: Embodied Simulation and Emotion Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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The Pacified Face: Early Embodiment Processes and the Use of Dummies

Rychlowska

Vanderwert

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Few things affect us as much as facial expressions, as they inform us about others' feelings and intentions, thereby influencing our own emotions and behaviors. A substantial body of literature links the critical abilities of recognizing and understanding emotion displays with facial mimicry, a sensorimotor process involving rapid imitation of perceived expressions. For example, blocking or altering facial mimicry in adults leads to disruptions in judgments in emotion recognition or emotional language processing. The present review focuses on pacifier use in infancy, a common practice that has the potential to interfere with infants' facial movements in ways identical to laboratory paradigms designed to block facial mimicry. Despite this similarity and the widespread use of infant soothers, little is known about their long-term effects. Here we review studies exploring the psychological correlates and implications of pacifier use. In particular, we discuss how soothers may interfere with the development of social skills in infants and present evidence linking pacifier use with disrupted adults' mimicry of facial expressions displayed by infants. Other preliminary findings reveal negative correlations between the use of soothers and children's spontaneous facial mimicry as well as emotional competence of young adults. Such studies, although correlational, suggest that this widespread parenting practice may affect the development of social skills by influencing emotional coordination. We discuss the implications of these findings and propose avenues for future research that can provide insights into the role of embodied processes in the development of emotional competence and adult functioning.

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Section: Pacifiers and Emotional Competence Of Young Adultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Embodied Simulation and Emotion Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Pacified Face: Early Embodiment Processes and the Use of Dummies

Rychlowska

Vanderwert

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…On the other hand, excitatory high-frequency rTMS of the MPFC enhances mimicry of facial expressions in CS and ZM muscles during an empathic, emotional task (Balconi and Canavesio, 2013). Recently, Korb et al (2015) have found that inhibition (rTMS) of both right primary motor cortex (M1) and the right primary somatosensory cortex (S1), considered as a part of MNS (for review see Pineda, 2008), also led to reduced facial mimicry. Together, these data suggest that the increased mimicry of facial expressions in highly empathic individuals is mediated by greater activation of empathy-related neural networks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

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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.

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“…A recent review of the literature on mimicry elucidates its relationship with emotional contagion, widely believed to be a component of emotional empathy [Chartrand & Lakin, ]. The extent to which SFM is modulated by top–down processes [Hamilton, ] and/or by one's own emotional state [Hess & Fischer, ], as well as its neural correlates [Korb et al, ], constitutes an area of active research. Direct eye contact between the sender and the receiver of an emotional facial expression has been suggested to be a trigger for SFM [Niedenthal, Mermillod, Maringer, & Hess, ], and modulates the mimicry of hand movements [Wang, Newport, & Hamilton, ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous Facial Mimicry is Modulated by Joint Attention and Autistic Traits

et al. 2015

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Joint attention (JA) and spontaneous facial mimicry (SFM) are fundamental processes in social interactions, and they are closely related to empathic abilities. When tested independently, both of these processes have been usually observed to be atypical in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, it is not known how these processes interact with each other in relation to autistic traits. This study addresses this question by testing the impact of JA on SFM of happy faces using a truly interactive paradigm. Sixty‐two neurotypical participants engaged in gaze‐based social interaction with an anthropomorphic, gaze‐contingent virtual agent. The agent either established JA by initiating eye contact or looked away, before looking at an object and expressing happiness or disgust. Eye tracking was used to make the agent's gaze behavior and facial actions contingent to the participants' gaze. SFM of happy expressions was measured by Electromyography (EMG) recording over the Zygomaticus Major muscle. Results showed that JA augments SFM in individuals with low compared with high autistic traits. These findings are in line with reports of reduced impact of JA on action imitation in individuals with ASC. Moreover, they suggest that investigating atypical interactions between empathic processes, instead of testing these processes individually, might be crucial to understanding the nature of social deficits in autism. Autism Res 2016, 9: 781–789. © 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research

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Gender differences in the neural network of facial mimicry of smiles – An rTMS study

Cited by 61 publications

References 68 publications

The Pacified Face: Early Embodiment Processes and the Use of Dummies

The Pacified Face: Early Embodiment Processes and the Use of Dummies

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

Spontaneous Facial Mimicry is Modulated by Joint Attention and Autistic Traits

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