The effect of being watched on facial EMG and autonomic activity in response to another individual’s facial expressions

Hietanen, Jari K.; Kylliäinen, Anneli; Peltola, Mikko J.

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51368-6

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(54 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings corroborate those of Hietanen et al 22 , who also reported greater ZM activation when participants viewed smiling expressions, compared to neutral facial expressions, if they believed that they were being watched. However, that study presented only static and not dynamic facial expressions; only smiling faces were included in the stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In that study, 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 model 22 . However, the implications of their EMG results were ambiguous because the ZM responses to smiles did not differ between conditions with and without beliefs about being watched.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

Hsu¹,

Sato²,

Yoshikawa

2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hsu¹,

Sato²,

Yoshikawa

2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Participants also moved their face more during the Answer phase than during the Question phase. In line with previous studies, this indicates that participants used facial displays as social signals (Chovil, 1991b;Crivelli & Fridlund, 2018;Fridlund, 1991;Hietanen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Social Signalling In Typical Individualssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Finally, we performed an exploratory analysis on participant facial motion. Previous studies have found that participants make more facial displays when they are being watched (Chovil, 1991b;Fridlund, 1991;Hietanen et al, 2019), suggesting a role for facial displays in communication (Chovil, 1991a;Crivelli & Fridlund, 2018). We tested whether typical participants move their face more when being watched, and while speaking compared to listening.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 93%

Effects of being watched on eye gaze and facial displays of typical and autistic individuals during conversation

Cañigueral

Ward

Hamilton

2020

Autism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Communication with others relies on coordinated exchanges of social signals, such as eye gaze and facial displays. However, this can only happen when partners are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in planning eye gaze and making facial displays during conversation, evidence from real-life dyadic tasks is scarce and mixed. Across two studies, here we investigate how eye gaze and facial displays of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen and potential to show true gaze direction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video, video-call and face-to-face. Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and produced more facial displays when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial motion patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial displays as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies. Lay abstract When we are communicating with other people, we exchange a variety of social signals through eye gaze and facial expressions. However, coordinated exchanges of these social signals can only happen when people involved in the interaction are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in using eye gaze and facial expressions during social interactions, evidence from tasks that involve real face-to-face conversations is scarce and mixed. Here, we investigate how eye gaze and facial expressions of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen by another person, and by being in a face-to-face interaction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video (no belief in being seen, no face-to-face), video-call (belief in being seen, no face-to-face) and face-to-face (belief in being seen and face-to-face). Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and made more facial expressions when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial expression patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial expressions as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies.

show abstract

“…The muscle activity related to the experimental trials was calculated as change scores by subtracting the baseline muscle activity from each 500-ms average value, and these values were then averaged across the 3000-ms post-stimulus time-window within each experimental condition. These procedures are standard procedures on the field (see Tassinary & Cacioppo, 2000) and we have been following them in our previous studies (e.g., Hietanen et al, 2018;Hietanen et al, 2019;Hietanen et al, 2020;Kiilavuori et al, 2021). The mean number of accepted trials in each condition was as follows: Clear lenses MdPd: M = 6.6; MdPa: M = 7.0; MaPd: M = 7.3; MaPa: M = 6.7; Dark lenses MdPd: M = 6.7; MdPa: M = 6.8; MaPd: M = 8.7; MaPa: M = 7.6.…”

Section: Physiological Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

The eye contact smile: The effects of sending and receiving a direct gaze

Hietanen

Peltola

2021

Visual Cognition

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Eye contact often elicits a smiling response. We investigated whether an individual's awareness that the recipient perceives their direct gaze during eye contact has an influence on this smiling response. Participants wore glasses with either clear or dark lenses (preventing the other person from seeing their eyes). Measurements of electromyographic activity from the zygomatic and periocular muscle regions showed that the smiling responses were greater to seeing the other's direct versus averted gaze. The participants' own gaze direction had also an effect, and this effect was modified by the visibility of their eyes. Zygomatic responses were greater when the participants were aware that their eyes were visible. Thus, awareness of sending a direct gaze to another plays a role in the smiling response. In addition, participants' self-evaluated level of social anxiety was positively correlated with the magnitude of the zygomatic responses to the other person's direct versus averted gaze.

show abstract

The effect of being watched on facial EMG and autonomic activity in response to another individual’s facial expressions

Cited by 21 publications

References 46 publications

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

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

Effects of being watched on eye gaze and facial displays of typical and autistic individuals during conversation

The eye contact smile: The effects of sending and receiving a direct gaze

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About