automatic mimicry reactions

8/21/2019 Automatic Mimicry Reactions

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Automatic Mimicry Reactionsas Related to Differences in Emotional Empathy

Marianne Sonnby-Borgstrm

Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden

ABSTRACT

The hypotheses of this investigation were based on conceiving of automatic mimicking as a

component involved in emotional empathy. Differences between subjects high and low in

emotional empathy were investigated. The parameters compared were facial mimicry

reactions, as represented by electromyographic (EMG) activity when subjects were exposed

to pictures of angry or happy faces, and the degree of correspondence between subjects facial

EMG reactions and their self-reported feelings. The comparisons were made at different

stimulus exposure times in order to elicit reactions at different levels of information

processing. The high-empathy subjects were found to have a higher degree of mimicking

behavior than the low-empathy subjects, a difference that emerged at short exposure times

(17- 40 milliseconds) that represented automatic reactions. The low-empathy subjects tended

already at short exposure times (17-40 ms) to show inverse zygomaticus muscle reactions,

smiling when exposed to an angry face. The high-empathy group was characterized by a

significantly higher correspondence between facial expressions and self-reported feelings. No

differences were found between the high- and low-empathy subjects in their verbally reported

feelings when presented a happy or an angry face. Thus, the differences between the groups in

emotional empathy appeared to be related to differences in automatic somatic reactions to

facial stimuli rather than to differences in their conscious interpretation of the emotional

situation.

Key words: empathy, emotional contagion, facial expression, automatic reactions,

microgenesis, unconscious processing.


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INTRODUCTION

Facial mimicry and communication of emotion

The experimental and theoretical literatures have failed to agree on a single definition ofempathy. Levenson, who represents an experimental approach to the concept, refers in review

articles to at least three different qualities that have been ascribed to empathy: a/ Knowing

what another person is feeling (empathic accuracy), b/ Feeling what another person is feeling,

and c/ Responding compassionately to another person's distress (Levenson, 1996; Levenson &

Ruef, 1992). The present study focuses on the second aspect of empathy, termed here

emotional empathy. Within a psychoanalytical framework, Basch (1983) conceives of

emotional contagion as being an important component of empathy. The idea of somatic

mimicry iscentral to Baschs notion of empathy. In line with the view on facial expressions

proposed by Tomkins (Tomkins, 1962; Tomkins, 1991), Basch assumes facial expressions to

be the efferent part of a biologically anchored system of basic affects and to be a part of a

preprogrammed or prewired form of communicative competence. Basch writes, A given

affective expression of one member of a particular species tends to recruit a similar response

in other members of that species.... This is done through the promotion of an unconscious,

automatic, and in adults not necessarily obvious, imitation of the senders bodily state and

facial expression by the receiver. This then generates in the receiver the autonomic response

associated with that bodily state and facial expression, which is to say that the receiver

experiences, an affect identical with that of the sender (Basch, 1983, p. 108). Although the

emotional somatic reactions is supposed to be the starting point of the empathetic process,

empathetic knowledge of the other person is supposed to involve components of cognitive

interpretation as well (Basch, 1976; Hoffman, 1984; Holm, 1985 Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990).

In accordance with Baschs notion of the process leading to emotional empathy,

experimentally oriented psychologists assert the hypothesis of emotional contagion. This term

is defined as the tendency to mimic the verbal, physiological and/or behavioral aspects of

another persons emotional experience, and thus to express/experience the same emotions

oneself (Hsee, Hatfield, Carlsson, & Chetomb, 1990, p. 328). Evidence of facial mimicry

has been reported in a number of studies (Dimberg, 1982; Dimberg, 1989; Dimberg &

Karlsson, 1997; Kappas, Hess, & Banse, 1992; Vaughan & Lanzetta, 1980; Zajonc,

Adelmann, Murphy, & Niedenthal, 1987). The view that this somatic mimicry is a crucial part

of emotional contagion is shared by various investigators studying facial expressions and


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emotions experimentally (Bavelas, Black, Lemery, & Mullett, 1986; Chartrand & Bargh,

1999; Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994; Hoffman, 1984; Hsee, Hatfield, & Chemtob,

1992; Laird et al., 1994; Lundqvist, 1995). Several studies confirm a relation between facial

expressions, autonomic activity and the experience of emotion, but the mechanisms behind

this correlation are still under debate (Porges, 1991). Some researchers (Burgoon, Buller, &

Woodall, 1996; Ekman, Levenson, & Friesen, 1983; Hess, Kappas, McHugo, Lanzetta, &

Klerck, 1992; Izard, 1971; Lanzetta & Kleck, 1976; Tomkins, 1984) suggest that the facial

muscle activity provides proprioceptive information (afferent facial feedback) and that the

facial expression can influence the internal emotional experience. Combining facial mimicry

with the afferent facial feedback hypothesis has resulted in the interpersonal facial feedback

hypotheses (IFFH), which may possibly help explain the mechanisms behind emotional

contagion (Capella, 1993).

Despite the various studies cited above which support the idea of a connection between

internal emotional states and facial expressions, problems connected with this simple

hypothesis have been indicated. A major controversy concerns the respective degree of

influence of internal affective states versus conscious cognitive and contextual factors on

facial expressions (Hess, Philippot, & Blairy, 1998; Izard, 1990; Matsumoto, 1987; Hess,

Banse, & Kappas, 1995). In studying facial displays it is thus important to also consider

conscious cognitive factors and individual differences in emotional regulation (Ginsburg,

1997; Hess et al., 1995; Hess et al., 1998; McHugo & Smith, 1996; Tassinary & Cacioppo,

1992; Vrana & Rollock, 1998). One solution to this controversy could be to adopt a process-

oriented perspective, studying facial expressions at different levels of information processing

so as to compare reactions at different levels of conscious cognitive control.

Automatic and controlled levels of processingIn line with the idea of there being qualitatively different stages of information processing,

Leventhal (1984) formulated the perceptual motor model of emotion, implying the

existence of three different hierarchically organized levels of emotional response (Leventhal,

1984). A similar proposal of different stages in the information processing of emotional

stimuli has been formulated by hman (hman, 1993). hmans model, however, is

primarily concerned with evolutionarily relevant stimuli that evoke fear and anxiety. The first

and most basic level of the affect program is assumed to be inherited and to be biologicallyprepared. The response at this level is considered to be either physiological or automatic


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motor in character and evoked automatically by specific stimuli, without previous learning.

The second level is conceived of as involving a separate memory system (first memory

system), one which is evoked automatically. It constitutes a schematic, prototypical level of

emotional processing that is regarded as representing a conditioned emotional response. The

third stage in Leventhals model finally, at a secondary memory level is a system that makes a

conscious, reflective evaluation of the emotional situation. It involves controlled or regulated

reactions rather than spontaneous emotional reactions (Leventhal, 1984).

The existence of a preconscious or automatic level in perceptual/cognitive processes is

supported both by psychological experimental research and by recent neurological work

demonstrating that the affective reactions may be evoked before the conscious identification

of the stimulus (Brown, 1988; Dimberg & hman, 1996; Dixon, 1981; LeDoux, 1996; Pally,

1998; Tassinary, Scott, Wolford, Napps, & Lanzetta, 1984; Zajonc, 1980; hman & Dimberg,

1978). At later levels of processing subcortical emotional activation is assumed to be

modulated by neocortical structures.

The controversy concerning the relative degree of influence which internal spontaneous

affects versus cognitive and contextual factors have on facial expressions is of interest here. In

previous research on facial expressions, little attention has been directed at the time

dimension and at different levels of processing. Thus, a process-oriented design was

considered to be fruitful in this context.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AND AIMS

The design selected, which was inspired by percept-genetic research and methodology (Kragh

& Smith, 1970), aimed at distinguishing facial reactions at different levels of information

processing. The basic assumption of the theory on which the method was based is that in the

course of a percept-genesis the more objective and conscious world around us develops as

growing out of a subjective and subconscious personal core (Smith, 1991). Percept genetic

methodology, in turn is based on the theory of microgenesis. In terms of this theory, the

perceptual act is a process that evolves through a series of qualitatively different stages, which

unfold over time, from microseconds to seconds (Brown, 1985; Brown, 1988). In the present

study different levels of consciousness in information processing were induced by the

successively prolonged exposure times of facial stimuli, starting with very short exposure

times (17 ms) assumed to elicit automatic reactions at a preattentive level, continuing on to


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longer exposure times representing conscious information processing and more controlled

reactions.

The major aim of the present study was to examine how facial mimicry behavior in

face-to-face interaction situations is related to individual differences in emotional empathy

at different levels of information processing. Automatic mimicry was expected to start already

at very short exposure times involving automatic or preattentive processing (Dimberg,

Thunberg, & Elmehed, 2000). Such automatic reactions at short exposure times are assumed

here to be linked to emotional empathy, a higher level of emotional empathy being linked

with stronger automatic mimicry reactions. A secondary aim of the study was to investigate

the correspondence between facial muscle reactions and verbally reported feelings and to

relate the degree of correspondence to individual differences in emotional empathy. Subjects

high in emotional empathy were expected to show a higher degree of correspondence between

muscle activity and reported feelings than subjects low in emotional empathy. A third aim

was to investigate differences between high- and low- empathy subjects in self-reported

feelings when exposed to angry as well as to happy faces.

METHOD

Participants

Twenty-two women and twenty-one men, students from different departments at the Lund

University, participated in the experiment on a volunteer basis. The median age was 23 years

(range 19-37).

Materials

Pictures of facial expressions taken from Ekman and Friesens Unmasking the Face (Ekman

& Friesen, 1975) were used as stimuli representing the senders side in a face-to-faceinteraction situation. Digitized and saved as grey-scale picture files, the pictures were exposed

on a computer monitor. Four faces, two of males and two of females, showing either an angry

or a happy expression, were selected. Pictures of the same person were used both for the

happy and the angry expressions. A picture of a vase served as neutral stimulus. A non-

figurative grey-scale masking picture was presented for a duration of 50 ms immediately after

presentation of a target picture to assure that preattentive processing took place (Esteves &

hman, 1993). It was shown to the subject prior to the start of the experiment so as to

facilitate its being processed in a controlled way during the experiment.


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Procedure

All subjects were exposed to one angry face, one neutral stimulus and one happy face. The

neutral picture was always in the second position. In order to compensate for position effects

the exposure sequence was balanced so that half the subjects looked at the angry face first (50

% at a male and 50 % at a female picture) and half at the happy (50 % at a male and 50% at a

female) face first. Thus, the design was balanced with regard both to the facial expression and

to the gender of the stimulus face. The pictures displaying a facial expression and the picture

of neutral content were each shown to the subject at 14 different exposure times, prolonged

successively from 17 milliseconds to 6 seconds (17 ms, 25 ms, 30 ms, 35 ms, 40 ms, 45 ms,

50 ms, 75 ms, 100 ms, 150 ms, 200 ms, 500 ms, 1000 ms, and 6000 ms). For technical

reasons, 17 ms was the shortest time possible for presentation on the computer monitor.

Together, the shortest exposure time and the masking picture were expected to assure

preattentive processing. Processing during an exposure of 6000 ms is certainly of a controlled

type. Each stimulus was exposed 6 times at each exposure time (called a set of 6 stimulus

exposures) so as to increase the accuracy of the measurements. The stimulus interval between

these six exposures was 500 ms. In earlier experiments a delay of about 300 ms from onset of

the stimulus to the facial muscle reaction has been observed (Dimberg, 1997a).

Measures and instruments

EMG-reactions

Electromyography (EMG) was used to register facial reactions. Informing the subjects that

sweat gland activity in the face was being measured masked the main purpose of the

experiment, that of facial EMG-registration. The reason for using EMG recordings rather than

for example the Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978) as the dependent

measure of facial muscle reactions was that the reactions were expected to be weak, hardlydiscernible by observation. Reactions of this type can only be registered by use of EMG

(Tassinary & Cacioppo, 1992). Positive emotions (smiling-reactions) were indicated by

registrations of electric activity in zygomaticus major and negative emotions (frown-

reactions) were indicated by the electric activity in corrugator supercilii (Hjortsj, 1970;

Dimberg, 1982; Tassinary & Cacioppo, 2000).

Bipolar electrodes attached to the left side of the face, using an inter-electrode distance

of about 1. 5 cm, were employed. These were placed in accordance with instructions in

Guidelines for Human Electromyograhic Research (Fridlund & Cacioppo, 1986). The


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sampling rate selected was 100 Hz, one that led to a sub-sampling of the signal. The pre-

sampling filter was set to the frequency range of 100 to 4000 Hz. Shielded Ag/AgCl miniature

surface electrodes (Biopac, EL 208 S)filled with Biopac electrode gel were used to measure

EMG activity. The subjects skin was cleaned with alcohol before the electrodes were applied.

These were connected to Biopac (EMG 100A) amplifiers, the digitized (through the use of a

Biopac MP 100 A system) EMG-signals that were registered and being stored by use of

special software for bioelectric data handling (AcqKnowledge).

Self -reported feeli ngs and identif ication of facial expression

Subjects were instructed to write a short description of what they had seen after each set of 6

stimulus exposures. This made it possible to distinguish a preattentive level of processing,which was defined as those exposures preceding the exposure-time at which the subject was

able to recognize the facial expression. The subject was also instructed to estimate his/her

feeling (self-reported feelings) after each set of 6 stimulus exposures, using a scale

containing six alternative descriptions of the feelings - negative, slightly negative, no

feelings, both positive and negative feelings, slightly positive and positive.

Questionnaires

Following the experiment involving exposure of facial expressions, the subjects were given

three different tests to complete: the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy (QMEE)

and Spielbergers State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). This testing was carried out after the

completion of the experiment in order to minimize the risk of behavior in the experiment

being influenced by the filling out of these questionnaires. Normative data on the QMEE test

is described by Choplan et al. (Choplan, McCain, Carbonell, & Hagen, 1985). The QMEE-

scale provides a measure of emotional empathy and is not designed to measure cognitiveaspects of empathy. Normative data on the STAI is presented in Spielbergers manual

(Spielberger, 1983). STAI was used to control for effects of individual differences in anxiety.

It had been shown earlier that the individual level of anxiety or induced fear could effect

facial expressions (Dimberg, 1997b; McHugo & Smith, 1996).


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Methods of data reduction and statistical analysis

Mimicki ng at dif ferent levels of processing

The strength of the reactions of the muscles to a given stimulus at a particular exposure time

was calculated as the mean amplitude of the signal from the onset of the first exposure to theend of the sixthexposure (a set of six stimulus exposures, p.8). The AcqKnowledge program

was used to calculate the standard deviation of the signal during the time period selected. This

parameter corresponds to the power of the signal (root-mean-square voltage, rms) and is a

measure of the strength of the EMG-activity (Fridlund & Cacioppo, 1986). As a result of

these calculations each subject was assigned 14 mean values for corrugator activity and 14

mean-values for zygomaticus activity, both for exposure to the happy face and for exposure to

the angry face. Thus, for each of the 14 different exposure times 4 EMG-activity means (2Muscles x 2 Faces) were obtained for each participant. Data for the neutral stimulus was not

used in these calculations. (See Methodological limitations below). To simplify and focus

the calculations and the interpretation of the result, the 14 exposure times were grouped into

four categories, or information-processing levels, termed the preattentive (subjective

threshold), the automatic (17-30/40 ms), the medium (35/45-75 ms), and the controlled level

(100-1000ms).

Data were analyzed in repeated measures ANOVAs which included all the subjects

(Faces x Muscles x Emotional empathy) with Faces (Happy and Angry) and Muscles

(Zygomaticus and Corrugator), respectively serving as within-group factors and Emotional

empathy (high and low) as the between-group factor. These analyses were performed at each

level of processing. Thus, the reaction for each individual when exposed to the happy face at

the preattentive level was compared with the reaction when exposed to the angry face

presented at the preattentive level, and so on. Two-way interactions and simple effects were

also analyzed in repeated measures ANOVAs. A significant interaction found in an ANOVA

(Faces x Muscles), including either all participants or the empathy-groups separately, if in the

expected direction, was interpreted as support for a mimicking reaction. The expected

directions were an increase in activity of the corrugator muscle (frowning) upon exposure to

the angry face as compared to the happy face, and an increase in activity of the zygomaticus

muscle (smiling) upon exposure to the happy face as compared with exposure to the angry

face.


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Correspondence between self-reported feelings and muscle activity

After each set of 6 exposures of a given stimulus (see Procedure p. 8), subjects were

instructed to report their feelings (see Self reported feelings and identification of facial

expression p. 10). The reported feelings were coded in different categories ranging from 1 to

3. Negative feelings and Slightly negative feelings, were coded as 1,Neutral and both

positive and neutral feelings were coded as 2 and Slightly positive and Positive feelings

were coded as 3. Thus, the ratings involved three values indicating different steps of

experienced feelings. For each of these 3 parameters two mean values for the level of muscle

activity (zygomaticus and corrugator) were calculated. This calculation was made

independent of the stimulus and of the exposure time. Accordingly, each subject was assigned

3 different values for mean corrugator activity, one for each emotional level and similarly 3

different values for mean zygomaticus activity. The interaction between Self-reported

feelings, Muscles and Emotional empathy, as well as two-way interactions and simple effects

were analyzed in repeated measure ANOVAs. The interaction between Self-reported feelings

and Muscles were also analyzed separately in each empathy-group.

RESULTS

Questionnaires

Forty-two persons completed the questionnaires. One subject was unable to complete them

due to difficulties in understanding Swedish.

The mean QMEE value was 51.9 points (SD = 23). This is high compared with results

obtained for North American norm groups (33 points) (Choplan et al., 1985). The norm group

was a randomly selected sample, whereas the sample in this experiment was comprised of

students, mainly students of the behavioral sciences.

Subjects were divided into two groups: one low-empathy group and one high-

empathy group that represented the remainder of the subjects. Fifteen subjects scoring 46 or

below on the QMEE-scale were included in the low-empathy group and 27 subjects scoring

higher than 46 in the high-empathy group. The mean score for the low- empathy group was

29.3 points (SD =17.5), and the mean score for the high-empathy group 64.5 (SD =14.7). The

cutoff point between the low- and high-empathy groups was placed at a lower level than the

mean value for the sample due to the groups mean being high compared with the norm

group, about 1/3 of the participants thus being classified as low-empathy subjects.


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The mean score for STAI (S-Anxiety) was 31.2 (SD = 7.8) and that for STAI (T-

Anxiety) was 37.3 (SD = 8.4). The S-anxiety means for the North American college norm

groups are 36.5 (SD =10.0) for males and 38.8 (SD = 12.0) for females, the corresponding T-

anxiety means for males being 38.3 (SD =9.2) and 40.4 (SD = 10.2) for females (Spielberger,

1983).

Mimicking at different levels of processing

Preattentive level

The method of operationalising the preattentive level used in the present design was based on

the subjects verbal report when exposed to the stimulus, the exposure time being coded aspreattentive if the subject was unable to recognize the facial expression. This sort of

threshold, termed the subjective threshold, is usually higher than the objective threshold,

which is based on detection or discrimination guessing (Eysenck & Keane, 1995).

Thirteen subjects identified the happy face already at the first exposure time (17 ms) and

could thus not be included in the analysis of the preattentive level. The mean muscle activity

for both muscles at the preattentive level was calculated for both the angry and the happy face

for the 30 subjects included in the analysis. No significant interaction effects were found atthis information processing level in a repeated measures ANOVA (Faces x Muscles x

Emotional empathy) using Faces (happy and angry) and Muscles (zygomaticus and

corrugator) as within group factors and Emotional empathy (high and low) as a between

group factor. No significant mimicking reactions was found in a two way repeated measures

ANOVA (Faces x Muscles) including all subjects or in ANOVAs including either the high- or

low- empathy group.

Automatic level

An automatic level of processing needs to be distinguished from processing at a subliminal or

preattentive level. Automatic reactions are traditionally defined as processes that consume no

attentional capacity, are under the control of stimuli rather than of intention, and occur outside

awareness (Eysenck & Keane, 1995). Thus, the second processing and reaction level was

called the automatic level and could be considered as a first memory or classical conditioning

level (Leventhal, 1984). For the happy face the first three exposure times (17- 30 ms) were


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selected to represent the automatic level, and for the angry face the first five exposures (17-40

ms) were selected. The cutoff points were the exposure times when 50 % of the subjects had

identified the facial expressions, that is the median exposure time for identification of

stimulus. The difference between the two stimuli here was due to subjects generally

identifying the happy face more rapidly than the angry one. Thus, this level, termed here

automatic, includes both the preattentive/subliminal automatic processing and automatic

processing at a short, but supraliminal level.

A repeated measure ANOVA (Faces x Muscles x Emotional empathy), all subjects

included, with Faces (2 levels) and Muscles (2 levels) as within group factors and Emotional

empathy (two levels: high and low) as a between group factor was performed. The result

supported an interaction between Faces x Muscles x Emotional empathy, F (1, 40) = 4.88, p

automatic mimicry reactions

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