Facial mimicry, contagious blushing, pupil mimicry, and their 1) function: what they are good for.
In one study, the independent variable was exogenous testosterone and the dependent variable was a psychological process related to empathy, such as facial mimicry (Hermans et al., 2006) or of threatening facial expressions (van Honk & Schutter, 2007).
Testosterone administration reduces empathetic behavior: A facial mimicry study.
Facial mimicry describes the unconscious mirroring of others' emotional facial expressions by activating one's own congruent facial muscles [19].
Given that emotional expressivity [15, 27], basal ganglia function [28], and mirror neuron system activity [29] are all reduced in PD patients, it is likely that facial mimicry is also reduced.
Because
facial mimicry has been shown to play an important role in the perception of emotions in others (Adolphs, Damasio, Tranel, Cooper, & Damasio, 2000), the aim of this study was to determine whether people with myasthenia are impaired in this task and whether their performance is related to gender, age, disease duration, and empathy level.
Washington, October 16 ( ANI ): New studies have shed light on how human and primate brains process and interpret facial expressions, and the role of facial mimicry in everything from deciphering an unclear smile to establishing relationships of power and status.
Facial mimicry - a social behaviour in which the observer automatically activates the same facial muscles as the person she is imitating - plays a role in learning, understanding, and rapport.
"Pacifiers should have a lesser effect on
facial mimicry if children only use them at night while sleeping, or even during the day outside of home (i.e., when they do not interact with their primary caregiver and may use the pacifier to remain quiet in a group setting, for instance, while listening to a story)," the researchers wrote.
Facial expressions also occur during the perception of music, illustrating a form of
facial mimicry, or emotional synchronization, which may reflect internal processes such as attention and recognition, and could conceivably implicate the involvement of the mirror-neuron system.
Dr Davila Ross said, "What is clear now is the building blocks of positive emotional contagion and empathy that refer to rapid involuntary
facial mimicry in humans evolved prior to humankind."
The display of empathy through a facial expression congruent with the content of the partner's self-disclosed event (i.e., facial congruence) is closely related to
facial mimicry since mimicry corresponds to the imitation of the facial expressions of others (for a review, see Hess, Philippot, & Blairy, 1999) and has been long understood as a form of primary empathy (Levenson & Ruef, 1992).
