Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:24:01.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Learning of Facial Responses to Faces Associated with Positive or Negative Emotional Expressions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2013

Luis Aguado ,
Francisco J. Román ,
Sonia Rodríguez ,
Teresa Diéguez-Risco ,
Verónica Romero-Ferreiro  and
María Fernández-Cahill
Luis Aguado*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Francisco J. Román
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Sonia Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Teresa Diéguez-Risco
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Verónica Romero-Ferreiro
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
María Fernández-Cahill
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Luis Aguado. Facultad de Psicología. Campus de Somosaguas. 28223 Madrid. (Spain). Phone: +34-913943161. E-mail: laguado@psi.ucm.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The possibility that facial expressions of emotion change the affective valence of faces through associative learning was explored using facial electromyography (EMG). In Experiment 1, EMG activity was registered while the participants (N = 57) viewed sequences of neutral faces (Stimulus 1 or S1) changing to either a happy or an angry expression (Stimulus 2 or S2). As a consequence of learning, participants who showed patterning of facial responses in the presence of angry and happy faces, that is, higher Corrugator Supercilii (CS) activity in the presence of angry faces and higher Zygomaticus Major (ZM) activity in the presence of happy faces, showed also a similar pattern when viewing the corresponding S1 faces. Explicit evaluations made by an independent sample of participants (Experiment 2) showed that evaluation of S1 faces was changed according to the emotional expression with which they had been associated. These results are consistent with an interpretation of rapid facial reactions to faces as affective responses that reflect the valence of the stimulus and that are sensitive to learned changes in the affective meaning of faces.

Keywords

associative learningfacial expressions of emotionhappy facesangry facesEMG
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E24
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This work was supported by Project SEJ2006-01576/PSIC, from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. The participation of Francisco J. Román has been possible thanks to a FPI Grant (PSI2010-20364) from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología.

References

Achaibou, A., Pourtois, G., Schwartz, S., & Vuilleumier, P. (2008). Simultaneous recording of EEG and facial muscle reactions during spontaneous emotional mimicry. Neuropsychologia, 46, 1104–1113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.10.019 Google Scholar
Aguado, L., Valdés-Conroy, B., Rodriguez, S., Román, F. J., Diéguez-Risco, T., & Fernández-Cahill, M. (2012). Modulation of early perceptual processing by emotional expression and acquired valence of faces: An ERP study. Journal of Psychophysiology, 26, 29–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000065 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adolphs, R., Sears, L., & Piven, J. (2001). Abnormal processing of social information from faces in autism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 232–240. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/089892901564289 Google Scholar
Armel, C., Pulido, C., Wixted, J. T., & Chiba, A. A. (2009). The smart gut: Tracking affective associative learning with measures of “liking”, facial electromyography, and preferential looking. Learning and Motivation, 40, 74–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2008.06.003 Google Scholar
Ayers, E. D., & Powell, D. A. (2002). Multiple response measures following classical conditioning. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 114, 33–38.Google Scholar
Berridge, K. C. (2000). Measuring hedonic impact in animals and infants: Microstructure of affective taste reactivity patterns. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 173–198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7634(99)00072-X Google Scholar
Blessing, A., Keil, A., Linden, D. E., Heim, S., & Ray, W. J. (2006). Acquisition of affective dispositions in dementia patients. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2366–2373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.05.004 Google Scholar
Bliss-Moreau, E., Barrett, L. F., & Wright, C. I. (2008). Individual differences in learning the affective value of others under minimal conditions. Emotion, 8, 479–493. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.8.4.479 Google Scholar
Bradley, M. M., Codispoti, M., Cuthbert, B. N., & Lang, P. J. (2001). Emotion and motivation I: Defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing. Emotion, 1, 276–298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//1528-3542.1.3.276 Google Scholar
Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (2000). Affective reactions to acoustic stimuli. Psychophysiology, 37, 204–215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-8986.3720204 Google Scholar
Bunce, S. C., Bernat, E., Wong, P. S., & Shevrin, H. (1999). Further evidence for unconscious learning: Preliminary support for the conditioning of facial EMG to subliminal stimuli. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 33, 341–347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3956(99)00003-5 Google Scholar
Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893–910. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.76.6.893 Google Scholar
De Houwer, J., Thomas, S., & Baeyens, F. (2001). Associative learning of likes and dislikes: A review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 853–869. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.6.853 Google Scholar
Dimberg, U. (1982). Facial reactions to facial expressions. Psychophysiology, 19, 643–647. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1982.tb02516.x Google Scholar
Dimberg, U. (1987). Facial reactions, autonomic activity and experienced emotion: A three component model of emotional conditioning. Biological Psychology, 24, 105–122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0301-0511(87)90018-4 Google Scholar
Dimberg, U., & Ohman, A. (1996). Behold the wrath: Psychophysiological responses to facial stimuli. Motivation and Emotion, 20, 149–182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02253869 Google Scholar
Dimberg, U., & Thunberg, M. (1998). Rapid facial reactions to emotional facial expressions. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 39, 39–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9450.00054 Google Scholar
Dimberg, U., Thunberg, M., & Elmehed, K. (2000). Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions. Psychological Science, 11, 86–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00221 Google Scholar
Fridlund, A. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Guidelines for human electromyographic research. Psychophysiology, 23, 567–589. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1986.tb00676.x Google Scholar
Frith, C. D. (2007). The social brain? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 362, 671–678. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.2003 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hess, U. (2008). Facial EMG. In Harmon-Jones, E. & Beer, J. (Eds.), Methods in Social Neuroscience (pp 70–91). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hess, U., Philippot, P., & Blairy, S. (1998). Facial reactions to emotional facial expressions: Affect or cognition? Cognition & Emotion, 12, 509–531. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026999398379547 Google Scholar
Kohler, C. G., Walker, J. B., Martin, E. A., Healey, K. M., & Moberg, P. J. (2010). Facial emotion perception in schizophrenia: A meta-analytic review. Schizophrenia Bulleting, 36, 1009–1019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbn192 Google Scholar
Laird, J. D., Alibozak, T., Davainis, D., Deignan, K., Fontanella, K., Hong, J., … Pacheco, C. (1994). Individual differences in the effects of spontaneous mimicry on emotional contagion. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 231–247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02254830 Google Scholar
Lakin, J., Jeffries, V., Cheng, C., & Chartrand, T. (2003). The chameleon effect as social glue: Evidence for the evolutionary significance of nonconscious mimicry. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 145–162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1025389814290 Google Scholar
Lieberman, M. (2011). Why symbolic processing of affect can disrupt negative affect: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience investigations. In Todorov, A., Fiske, S., & Prentice, D. (Eds.), Social Neuroscience: Toward understanding of the underpinnings of the social mind (pp 188–209). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lundqvist, D., & Litton, J. E. (1998). “The Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces”. AKDEF, CD ROM. Stockholm, Sweden: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology Section, Karolinska Institutet, ISBN 91-630-7164-9.Google Scholar
Magnée, M., Stekelenburg, J., Kemner, C., & de Gelder, B. (2007). Similar facial electromyographic responses to faces, voices, and body expressions. Neuroreport, 18, 369–372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0b013e32801776e6 Google Scholar
Moody, E. J., McIntosh, D. N., Mann, L. J., & Weisser, K. R. (2007). More than mere mimicry? The influence of emotion on rapid facial reactions to faces. Emotion, 7, 447–457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.447 Google Scholar
Pelphrey, K. A., Sasson, N. J., Reznick, J. S., Paul, G., Goldman, B. D., & Piven, J. (2002). Visual scanning of faces in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 249–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sloan, D. M., Bradley, M. M., Dimoulas, E., & Lang, P. J. (2002). Looking at facial expressions: Dysphoria and facial EMG. Biological Psychology, 60, 79–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0511(02)00044-3 Google Scholar
Sonnby-Borgström, M. (2002) Automatic mimicry reactions as related to differences in emotional empathy. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 43, 433–443. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9450.00312 Google Scholar
Sonnby-Borgström, M., Jönsson, P., & Svensson, O. (2003). Emotional empathy as related to mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 3–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1023608506243 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnby-Borgström, M., & Jönsson, P. (2004). Dismissing-avoidant pattern of attachment and mimicry reactions at different levels of information processing. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45, 103–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2004.00385.x Google Scholar