Pictures of social interaction prompt a sustained increase of the smile expression and induce sociability

Abstract

Viewing pictures of social interaction can facilitate approach behaviors. We conducted two studies to investigate if social interaction cues, empathy, and/or social touch modulate facial electromyographic (EMG) reactivity (as evidenced by the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii muscles) and mood states. We presented bonding pictures (depicting social interaction) and control pictures (without social interaction) while continuously recording zygomatic and corrugator EMG activities. In both studies, picture blocks were paired by valence and arousal. All participants were college students. In study 1, participants (n = 80, 47 women) read relevant priming texts immediately before viewing each block of 14 pictures. In study 2, participants did not read (n = 82, 63 women) priming texts before each block of 28 pictures. In study 1 and study 2, participants also completed mood states questionnaires to assess sociability and altruistic behavior. Empathy and social touch frequency were also assessed by self-reported questionnaires. In both studies, bonding pictures increased the zygomatic activity and the self-reported sociability feeling compared to control pictures. Only in study 2, bonding pictures decreased median corrugator activity compared to control pictures. We concluded that social interaction cues were efficient to increase sociability and prompt a sustained smile expression regardless of priming texts.

High depressive symptomatology reduces emotional reactions to pictures of social interaction

“…Therefore, in the non-depressive group, the affiliative pictures motivated social interactions, increasing states of sociability (reducing the fear of rejection scores), an effect not observed in the depressive group. These results corroborate those described in the literature, which showed a reduced fear of rejection after viewing affiliative pictures in non-depressive individuals 9 , 23 . It is known that people with depression often have the expectation that they might be rejected or that it is too exhausting to engage with others 48 , 49 , which may also lead to less mimicry behavior and less states of sociability.…”

“…Higher valence stimuli increase the EMG activity of the zygomatic major muscle, while lower valence stimuli show lower activation of this musculature 7 , 19 . The results observed in non-depressive individuals corroborate those reported previously and are consistent with those of a study showing increased zygomatic activity for social interaction pictures (preceded or not by a priming text) compared to control pictures also pared by valence and arousal 9 . Additionally, the temporal analysis during image visualization showed that the affiliative pictures promoted increased smile expression from 0.5 s onwards compared to the control pictures, a difference that persisted until the end of the image visualization.…”

“…In the present study, the affiliative and control image sets had similar valence and arousal, number of people and background scene; the only difference between the blocks was the social content. Thus, affiliative pictures promote changes in relevant facial expressions that drive social interactions 9 but not in individuals with depressive symptoms.…”

“…Pictures with social interaction cues were recently shown to promote larger EMG activation of the zygomatic major muscle in healthy individuals compared to that for pictures without social interaction. Pictures with social interaction cues also increased the expectation of closeness and reduced fear of rejection in these individuals 9 .…”

Decreased self-reported receiving of social touch and social support predict loneliness in healthy adults

“…Of importance for the current discussion, a previous study showed that visual social stimuli promoted an accelerated reaction time in the flexion of the fingers, a motor task that bears resemblance with the social touch (Souza et al, 2012 ). Additionally, it was found that exposure to bonding pictures (with social touch cues) increased subjective feelings of sociability and activity of smile muscles (Mota et al, 2021 ) as well as the activity of muscles involved in a caress-like movement (Campagnoli et al, 2015 ). Furthermore, the authors provided evidence of decreased feelings of isolation after priming with bonding pictures and a reduction in the motor readiness potential amplitude preceding caress on a soft cloth (Campagnoli et al, 2015 ).…”