Biopsychology of Emotions, the facial feedback hypothesis of emotional experience

Biopsychology of Emotions, the facial feedback hypothesis of emotional experience

Abstract

This paper reviews ten articles from the Walden Library related to the facial feedback hypothesis of emotional experience. The peer reviewed articles range in topic and look at research on facial expression from various angles. The facial expression hypothesis of emotional experience research is reviewed in reference to gender specifics, age variations, disease or personality disorders and learning abilities. The paper concludes after we integrate our review of past research on facial feedback we find scope for further research in facial feedback hypothesis that may differ with subject to culture and lifestyle.

 Introduction

Facial feedback hypothesis of emotional expression is the concept that facial expressions have a connection to emotions and provide the key to feelings (Azar, 2000). The face is one of the most affluent sources of communicating emotional and social information. It is also capable of spawning many expressions with all the muscles it is equipped with (Senechel et al, 2013). The facial feedback theory is an important part of many modern theories of emotions. The study of facial expression of emotion has also been focused on with theoretical controversy and pragmatic research. Ekman (1993) reviews if facial expressions really depict emotions and if they are culturally, universally specific.

Facial expression as an indication of emotions and feelings is not an uncommon phenomenon. In daily life to judge a person’s thoughts and feelings in connection with their facial expression is ordinary practice. During the 2012 Olympics, artistic gymnast Makayla Maroney became famous for her athletic abilities. She also got renowned for a facial expression that she exhibited when awarded a silver medal (Sénéchal et al, 2013). The idea more interesting than Makayla’s expression was how different observers interpreted her facial expression with varying meanings.

Ten articles on facial feedback hypothesis from Walden library

1. ‘Comparison of three theories relating facial expressiveness to blood pressure in male and female undergraduates’ –Davidson et al, 1994.

This article examines differing predictions of how emotional expressions and blood pressure are related. For this study spontaneous positive and negative facial expressions were measured for 148 male and female undergraduates. The resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), and reactive SBP were also accounted. Keeping in line with the discharge theory of emotions (few expressions will predict higher baseline SBP) results differed for men. On the other hand, women had an imbalance for negative and positive expressions in line with the mismatch theory.

2. Impaired recognition of prosody and subtle emotional facial expressions in Parkinson's disease.

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Buxton, Sharon L.; MacDonald, Lorraine; Tippett, Lynette J. Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol 127(2), Apr 2013, 193-203. doi: 10.1037/a0032013

Buxton et al (2013) introduce their study with the importance of correct recognition of emotional facial expressions. For a healthy and accurate social interaction, relationships it is important that the emotional expressions are accurately recognized. Patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD) have seen to misunderstand or not recognize the facial expressions of others but some conflicting results of the theory have been found also. This study examines this conflict and uses 30 individuals who suffer from PD for the experiment. Their results show that patients suffering from PD recognize facial expressions of happiness more accurately compared to other subtle emotions expressed. The study also concludes that medicated PD individuals perform better at expressions recognition as compared to non medicated PD individuals.

3. Facial emotional processing in HIV infection: Relation to neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric status.

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Lane, Tammy A.; Moore, Danielle M.; Batchelor, Jennifer; Brew, Bruce J.; Cysique, Lucette A. Neuropsychology, Vol 26(6), Nov 2012, 713-722. doi: 10.1037/a0029964

The objective of this study is to examine facial emotional processing in HIV+ individuals and its relation to neuro cognitive performance, neuropsychiatric symptomatology and immune status. Participants included 85 HIV+ individuals (83 males, 2 females) and 25 same age HIV− individuals (22 males, 3 females). The used The University of Pennsylvania computerized neuropsychological facial emotion test battery, standardized neuropsychological testing, neurobehavioral questionnaires, a semi structured psychiatric interview. Results showed a slight difference for recognition of sadness, ability to distinguish between happiness and fear. It was also observed that HIV+ individuals with HIV-associated neuro cognitive disorder had abnormal emotional facial recognition and slower recognition of negative facial expressions. The study concludes that stable HIV+ individuals ‘show a mild level of emotional processing reduction that is dissociated from neuropsychiatric complaints’.

4. Recognition of facial expressions of mixed emotions in school-age children exposed to terrorism

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Scrimin, Sara; Moscardino, Ughetta; Capello, Fabia; Altoè, Gianmarco; Axia, Giovanna Developmental Psychology, Vol 45(5), Sep 2009, 1341-1352.

doi: 10.1037/a0016689

This study aims at investigating the effects of terrorism on children’s ability to recognize emotions. The method used was to study the facial expressions of children with mean age 11 years old after exposure to terrorist attack. A sample of 101 exposed and 102 non exposed children, balanced for age and gender were assessed. The assessment lasted for 20 months after a terrorist attack in Beslan, Russia. The results showed that the exposed children group was able to recognize ‘mixed emotion facial stimuli’ more than the unexposed children group. Scrimin et al concluded that exposed children labeled facial expression of anger and sadness more correctly than unexposed children.

5. The impact of facial emotional expressions on behavioral tendencies in women and men.

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Seidel, Eva-Maria; Habel, Ute; Kirschner, Michaela; Gur, Ruben C.; Derntl, Birgit

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol 36(2), Apr 2010, 500-507. doi:10.1037/a0018169

Seidel et al start their article with an emphasis on emotional faces used as a means to communicate the emotional state of a person. They add that emotional faces sometimes also convey the behavioral intentions of an individual. The facial expressions can also affect the behavior of the perceiver then. This study compares the behavioral reactions of the perceiver to facial expressions of happiness, sadness, disgust and anger. 55 females and 49 males who were Caucasian and similar in age from Vienna University participated in the study. Participants viewed 24 colored photographs of Caucasian actors that showed evoked facial expressions of emotions. The results showed evidence that men and women react almost similarly but there are differences in reactions to male and female faces. This reaction may be influenced by the socialization process and cultural differences. Results also showed a pattern of reactive behavior to specific facial expressions like avoidance for anger, approach for sad and happy expression, withdrawal for disgust.

6. Happy mouth and sad eyes: Scanning emotional facial expressions.

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Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Alpers, Georg W. Emotion, Vol 11(4), Aug 2011, 860-865.

doi: 10.1037/a0022758

For years eyes have been associated with emotional expression on the face. This study examines some specific regions of the face like the mouth and eyes that are considered vital in facial expression of emotions. The method involved eye tracking to monitor ‘scanning’ behavior of participants while they look at different facial expressions. Duration and location of fixations were recorded along with a dominance ratio (eyes and mouth to the rest of the face). The study concluded that there is a relation between eyes and mouth in emotional decoding. The results also show that not all emotions are interpreted in not the same manner and confirm the relevance between facial expressions of emotions.

7. Categorical perception of emotional facial expressions does not require lexical categories.

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Sauter, Disa A.; LeGuen, Oliver; Haun, Daniel B. M. Emotion, Vol 11(6), Dec 2011, 1479-1483.  doi: 10.1037/a0025336

We know that our perception of others' emotional signals depend on the language we speak. This articles questions if it is the language or is it our perception regardless of language and culture? This article is more an investigation into the perception of emotions among various language groups. The process reveals that emotions are perceived on the basis of a biological process and not on lexical (related to a particular language) distinctions.

8. Age-related decrease in recognition of emotional facial and prosodic expressions.

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Lambrecht, Lena; Kreifelts, Benjamin; Wildgruber, Dirk. Emotion, Vol 12(3), Jun 2012, 529-539. doi: 10.1037/a0026827

This article starts with highlighting how crucial is the ability to recognize nonverbal emotional signals for successful social communication at any age. Prior studies have shown connection between age and emotion recognition with a prosodic approach. This study aimed at using more natural settings by presenting stimuli under auditory, visual and audiovisual conditions. 44 mean and 40 women within the age range of 20-70 years were tested for their abilities to recognize non verbal emotions. The results showed a decline in age related abilities to recognize emotions independent of the kind of stimuli presented. The results suggest a change in cognitive abilities to understand emotions that go beyond the age related abilities.

9. Identification of emotional facial expressions following recovery from depression.

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LeMoult, Joelle; Joormann, Jutta; Sherdell, Lindsey; Wright, Yamanda; Gotlib, Ian H.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol 118(4), Nov 2009, 828-833. doi:10.1037/a0016944

This study investigated the identification of facial expressions of emotion in currently non depressed participants. These participants have however, had a history of recurrent depressive by episodes (recurrent major depression; RMD) and never-depressed control participants (CTL). The participants were presented with faces with changing expressions from neutral to full intensity. Results were collected by the intensity of the expression correctly identified by the participant. There were no major group differences for sad and angry expressions, but CTL participants were able to identify expressions at a lower intensity compared to the RMD participants. The study concluded that despite being treated RMD participants had some bias towards facial expressions.

10. Gender differences in implicit and explicit processing of emotional facial expressions as revealed by event-related theta synchronization.

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Knyazev, Gennady G.; Slobodskoj-Plusnin, Jaroslav Y.; Bocharov, Andrey V. Emotion, Vol 10(5), Oct 2010, 678-687. doi: 10.1037/a0019175

This articles starts with the hypothesis that women are better interpreters of facial expressions as compared to men. It talks about facial expression of emotions as early as birth and infancy when a baby is unable to verbalize his emotions, and facial expressions are the key to what he is feelings. Facial expression of emotions is processed in two modes that are differently present in the conscious mind. These modes can be understood in connection with ‘event-related electroencephalogram’ (ERT) as a marker of facial expression processing. The ERT synchronization is more pronounced in the early processing stage compared to explicit processing. Early processing is more pronounced in men as compared to women and may be connected to differences in social behavior.

Further research

 I found articles and research on facial feedback hypothesis on emotional expression that account for age, gender and disease. I did not find enough literature however that investigates facial expression of emotions distinction in reference to culture. There was one article by Sauter et al (2011) on lexical distinctions not effecting facial expression recognition. Scope for further research is vast if facial feedback of emotional expression is investigated in different cultures and parts of the work. This can vary with how different cultures express, handle or understand happiness, anger, disgust and other basic emotions.

Another aspect of the topic is the lifestyle and prior training. A marine or veteran may have a controlled facial feedback of emotional expression as compared to a school teacher of young kids. Further research can be conducted in this range as well.

References

Azar, B. E. T. H. (2000). What's in a face?. Monitor on Psychology, 31(1), 44-45.

Buxton, S. L., MacDonald, L., & Tippett, L. J. (2013). Impaired recognition of prosody and subtle emotional facial expressions in Parkinson's disease. Behavioral Neuroscience, 127(2), 193

Davidson, K. W., Prkachin, K. M., Mills, D. E., & Lefcourt, H. M. (1994). Comparison of three theories relating facial expressiveness to blood pressure in male and female undergraduates. Health Psychology, 13(5), 404.

Ekman, P. (1993). Facial expression and emotion. American Psychologist,48(4), 384.

Eisenbarth, H., & Alpers, G. W. (2011). Happy mouth and sad eyes: Scanning emotional facial expressions. Emotion, 11(4), 860.

Knyazev, G. G., Slobodskoj-Plusnin, J. Y., & Bocharov, A. V. (2010). Gender differences in implicit and explicit processing of emotional facial expressions as revealed by event-related theta synchronization. Emotion, 10(5), 678.

Lambrecht, L., Kreifelts, B., & Wildgruber, D. (2012). Age-related decrease in recognition of emotional facial and prosodic expressions. Emotion, 12(3), 529.

 Lane, T. A., Moore, D. M., Batchelor, J., Brew, B. J., & Cysique, L. A. (2012). Facial emotional processing in HIV infection: Relation to Neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric status. Neuropsychology, 26(6), 713.

LeMoult, J., Joormann, J., Sherdell, L., Wright, Y., & Gotlib, I. H. (2009). Identification of emotional facial expressions following recovery from depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(4), 828.

Sauter, D. A., LeGuen, O., & Haun, D. (2011). Categorical perception of emotional facial expressions does not require lexical categories. Emotion,11(6), 1479.

Scrimin, S., Moscardino, U., Capello, F., Altoè, G., & Axia, G. (2009). Recognition of facial expressions of mixed emotions in school-age children exposed to terrorism. Developmental Psychology, 45(5), 1341

Sénéchal, T., Turcot, J., & El Kaliouby, R. (2013). Smile or smirk? automatic detection of spontaneous asymmetric smiles to understand viewer experience. In Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition.