Automatic Mimicry Reactions
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Transcript of 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