The facial pattern of disgust, appetence, excited joy and relaxed joy: An improved facial EMG study

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the facial muscle pattern of disgust in comparison to appetence and joy, using an improved facial EMG method. We analyzed the activity of nine facial muscles in forty healthy subjects. The subject group was randomly divided into two groups (oversaturated vs. hungry) of ten women and ten men each. Four different emotions (disgust, appetence, excited-joy and relaxed-joy) were induced by showing pictures from the IAPS. Pre-visible facial muscle activity was measured with a new facial EMG. A Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was established. Disgust is represented by a specific facial muscle pattern involving M.corrugator and M.orbicularis oculi, clearly distinguishing it from the facial patterns of appetence and joy. The intensity of disgust is stronger in a state of hunger than under oversaturation and is altogether stronger in females than in males. Our findings indicate the possibility to explore the entire emotion system successfully through a state-of-the-art psychophysiological method like our EMG device.

Emotional scenes and facial expressions elicit different psychophysiological responses

“…The pattern we found in the orbicularis oculi EMG in response to scenes replicates one prior study (Wolf et al, 2005) and contradicts another (Bradley et al, 2001). In contrast to the study by Bradley et al (2001), we did not average activity over the complete period of picture presentation but compared the activity during the first three seconds, that is, before the startle probe occurred.…”

“…Other valence-specific responses can be measured with the facial EMG: the corrugator supercilii muscle, which causes frowning, is more strongly activated when watching negative scenes and the zygomatic major (Lang et al, 1993), as well as the orbicularis oculi muscle (as a part of the so called Duchenne smile, Wolf et al, 2005) are engaged while watching positive slides.…”

“…In addition to these classic measures we also explored the usefulness of the EMG from the orbicularis oculi muscle (which is typically recorded for the startle response) as a continuous measure of facial expressiveness indexing the Duchenne smile. 1 The EMG is thought to reflect a valence-specific response (Wolf et al, 2005). Also, we collected ratings of picture valence and arousal.…”

Characterization of the Facial Expression of Emotions in Schizophrenia Patients: Preliminary Findings with a New Electromyography Method

“…The validity of this method was established in a recent study of healthy subjects, in which 9 facial muscles were measured simultaneously (15). IAPS…”

“…The new method facilitates the simultaneous measurement of 9 facial muscles. The validity of this method was recently established in 2 studies of healthy subjects (15,16).…”