Neural correlates of communicating emotion through facial expressions: A simultaneous fMRI and facial EMG study

Abstract

People commonly communicate emotional states through facial expressions. However, existing neuroimaging research focuses almost entirely on brain systems involved in perceiving expressions, leaving unclear whether similar systems are recruited when people generate expressions. Pairs of friends took turns viewing positive and neutral images while undergoing simultaneous fMRI scanning and EMG recording of zygomaticus major, a facial muscle associated with smiling. Participants were instructed that they were either visible to their friend or not visible during image-viewing. When participants viewed positive images, their EMG responses parametrically tracked activity in brain structures associated with experiencing emotion, including ventral striatum, caudate, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. When further instructed that they were visible to their friend, participants’ EMG responses also tracked activity in structures associated with mentalizing, including temporoparietal junction, superior temporal sulcus, and precuneus. These findings suggest that neural systems involved in perceiving facial expressions also support their production during communication.

Anxiety, not regulation tendency, predicts how individuals regulate in the laboratory: An exploratory comparison of self-report and psychophysiology

“…We collected EMG and EDA activity to measure psychophysiological profiles of emotion regulation. Although EMG is traditionally used to study emotional experiences and communication [ 20 , 34 , 60 , 61 ], it can be used as a biomarker for emotion regulation as well [ 32 , 62 ], as underlying emotional experiences and expressions change in response to the successful regulation of emotion. Based on these psychophysiological underpinnings of regulation, we examined the relationship between self-reported and psychophysiological measures of emotion and emotion regulation.…”