Duchenne smile, emotional experience, and autonomic reactivity: a test of the facial feedback hypothesis. 2002

Robert Soussignan
Laboratoire Vulnérabilité, Adaptation et Psychopathologie, CNRS UMR 7593, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France. soussign@ext.jussieu.fr

This study examined the modulatory function of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles on subjective and autonomic components of emotion. Participants were asked to hold a pencil in their mouth to either facilitate or inhibit smiles and were not instructed to contract specific muscles. Five conditions--namely lips pressing, low-level non-Duchenne smiling, high-level non-Duchenne smiling, Duchenne smiling, and control--were produced while participants watched videoclips that were evocative of positive or negative affect. Participants who displayed Duchenne smiles reported more positive experience when pleasant scenes and humorous cartoons were presented. Furthermore, they tended to exhibit different patterns of autonomic arousal when viewing positive scenes. These results support thefacial feedback hypothesis and suggest that facial feedback has more powerful effects when facial configurations represent valid analogs of basic emotional expressions.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D004644 Emotions Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties. Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005149 Facial Expression Observable changes of expression in the face in response to emotional stimuli. Face Expression,Expression, Face,Expression, Facial,Face Expressions,Facial Expressions
D005246 Feedback A mechanism of communication within a system in that the input signal generates an output response which returns to influence the continued activity or productivity of that system. Feedbacks
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D001143 Arousal Cortical vigilance or readiness of tone, presumed to be in response to sensory stimulation via the reticular activating system. Vigilance, Cortical,Arousals,Cortical Vigilance
D012904 Smiling A facial expression which may denote feelings of pleasure, affection, amusement, etc. Smilings
D012919 Social Behavior Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual or group usually of the same species. Sociality,Behavior, Social,Behaviors, Social,Social Behaviors

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