I thought that I heard you laughing: Contextual facial expressions modulate the perception of authentic laughter and crying

Lavan, Nadine; Lima, César F.; Harvey, Hannah; Scott, Sophie K.; McGettigan, Carolyn

doi:10.1080/02699931.2014.957656

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Such a role can be hypothesized from previous studies. In line with findings for faces, motor system activation, in primary motor, premotor, and supplementary motor sites, is seen for the perception of emotional vocalizations (Bestelmeyer et al, 2014;Lima et al, 2015;Lima et al, 2016b;McGettigan et al, 2015;O'Nions et al, 2017). This is particularly the case for positive vocalizations like laughter, possibly reflecting the contagiousness of these expressions (Warren et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Authentic and Posed Emotional Vocalizations Trigger Distinct Facial Responses

Lima¹,

Arriaga²,

Anikin³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The ability to recognize the emotions of others is a crucial skill. In the visual modality, sensorimotor mechanisms provide an important route for emotion recognition. Perceiving facial expressions often evokes activity in facial muscles and in motor and somatosensory systems, and this activity relates to performance in emotion tasks. It remains unclear, however, whether and how similar mechanisms extend to audition. To address this issue, we examined facial electromyographic and electrodermal responses to nonverbal vocalizations that varied in emotional authenticity. Participants (N = 100) passively listened to laughs and cries that could reflect a genuine or a posed emotion. Bayesian mixed models indicated that listening to laughter evoked stronger facial responses than listening to crying. These responses were sensitive to emotional authenticity. Genuine laughs evoked more activity than posed laughs in the zygomaticus and orbicularis, muscles typically associated with positive affect. We also found that activity in the orbicularis and corrugator related to performance in a subsequent authenticity detection task. Stronger responses in the orbicularis predicted improved recognition of genuine laughs. Stronger responses in the corrugator, a muscle associated with negative affect, predicted improved recognition of posed laughs. Moreover, genuine laughs elicited stronger skin conductance responses than posed laughs. This arousal effect did not predict task performance, though. For crying, physiological responses were not associated with authenticity judgments. Altogether, these findings indicate that emotional authenticity affects peripheral nervous system responses to vocalizations. They point to a role of sensorimotor mechanisms in the evaluation of authenticity in the auditory modality.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Authentic and Posed Emotional Vocalizations Trigger Distinct Facial Responses

Lima¹,

Arriaga²,

Anikin³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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show abstract

“…The laughter stimuli consisted of 30 genuine and 30 posed laughs. We used vocalizations produced by several male and female speakers previously validated and used in behavioral and neuroimaging experiments [ 7 , 59 ]. They were generated by six speakers (three female) in a sound-proof anechoic chamber at University College London.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genuine laughter was elicited using an amusement induction situation in a social interactive setting: speakers were shown video clips, which they had identified beforehand as amusing and that would easily cause them to laugh aloud; the experimenters, who had known all the speakers for a long time, interacted with them throughout the recording session to promote the naturalness and the social nature of the laughs (as they occur between friends in everyday interactions). Procedural details are provided elsewhere [ 7 , 59 ]. For posed laughter, the speakers were asked to simulate laughter in the absence of any external stimulation, and they were encouraged to make it sound natural and positive.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Laughter Contagion in Boys at Risk for Psychopathy

et al. 2017

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SummaryHumans are intrinsically social animals, forming enduring affiliative bonds [1]. However, a striking minority with psychopathic traits, who present with violent and antisocial behaviors, tend to value other people only insofar as they contribute to their own advancement [2, 3]. Extant research has addressed the neurocognitive processes associated with aggression in such individuals, but we know remarkably little about processes underlying their atypical social affiliation. This is surprising, given the importance of affiliation and bonding in promoting social order and reducing aggression [4, 5]. Human laughter engages brain areas that facilitate social reciprocity and emotional resonance, consistent with its established role in promoting affiliation and social cohesion [6, 7, 8]. We show that, compared with typically developing boys, those at risk for antisocial behavior in general (irrespective of their risk of psychopathy) display reduced neural response to laughter in the supplementary motor area, a premotor region thought to facilitate motor readiness to join in during social behavior [9, 10, 11]. Those at highest risk for developing psychopathy additionally show reduced neural responses to laughter in the anterior insula. This region is implicated in auditory-motor processing and in linking action tendencies with emotional experience and subjective feelings [10, 12, 13]. Furthermore, this same group reports reduced desire to join in with the laughter of others—a behavioral profile in part accounted for by the attenuated anterior insula response. These findings suggest that atypical processing of laughter could represent a novel mechanism that impoverishes social relationships and increases risk for psychopathy and antisocial behavior.

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“…They were generated by seven adults (four female) in a sound-proof anechoic chamber at University College London. Spontaneous laughter was elicited using an amusement induction situation: each speaker was shown video clips, which they identified beforehand as amusing and that would easily cause them to laugh aloud 31 65 . For posed laughter, the speakers simulated laughter in the absence of external stimulation, while trying to make the expression sound credible.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired socio-emotional processing in a developmental music disorder

Lima

Brancatisano

Fancourt

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Some individuals show a congenital deficit for music processing despite normal peripheral auditory processing, cognitive functioning, and music exposure. This condition, termed congenital amusia, is typically approached regarding its profile of musical and pitch difficulties. Here, we examine whether amusia also affects socio-emotional processing, probing auditory and visual domains. Thirteen adults with amusia and 11 controls completed two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants judged emotions in emotional speech prosody, nonverbal vocalizations (e.g., crying), and (silent) facial expressions. Target emotions were: amusement, anger, disgust, fear, pleasure, relief, and sadness. Compared to controls, amusics were impaired for all stimulus types, and the magnitude of their impairment was similar for auditory and visual emotions. In Experiment 2, participants listened to spontaneous and posed laughs, and either inferred the authenticity of the speaker’s state, or judged how much laughs were contagious. Amusics showed decreased sensitivity to laughter authenticity, but normal contagion responses. Across the experiments, mixed-effects models revealed that the acoustic features of vocal signals predicted socio-emotional evaluations in both groups, but the profile of predictive acoustic features was different in amusia. These findings suggest that a developmental music disorder can affect socio-emotional cognition in subtle ways, an impairment not restricted to auditory information.

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I thought that I heard you laughing: Contextual facial expressions modulate the perception of authentic laughter and crying

Cited by 25 publications

References 23 publications

Authentic and Posed Emotional Vocalizations Trigger Distinct Facial Responses

Authentic and Posed Emotional Vocalizations Trigger Distinct Facial Responses

Reduced Laughter Contagion in Boys at Risk for Psychopathy

Impaired socio-emotional processing in a developmental music disorder

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