You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress
Quality and quantity of the human stress response are highly individual. Not only are there differences in terms of psychological and physiological stress reactivity, but also with regard to facial muscle stress reactivity. In a first correlative pilot study to decipher the signature of stress as it...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666497623000218 |
| _version_ | 1797753887714705408 |
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| author | Jost U. Blasberg Mathilde Gallistl Magdalena Degering Felicitas Baierlein Veronika Engert |
| author_facet | Jost U. Blasberg Mathilde Gallistl Magdalena Degering Felicitas Baierlein Veronika Engert |
| author_sort | Jost U. Blasberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Quality and quantity of the human stress response are highly individual. Not only are there differences in terms of psychological and physiological stress reactivity, but also with regard to facial muscle stress reactivity. In a first correlative pilot study to decipher the signature of stress as it presents in the physiognomy of a stressed individual, we investigated how stress-induced muscle movement activity in the face is associated with stress marker activation during a standardized laboratory stress test. Female and male participants (N = 62) completed the Trier Social Stress Test and provided multiple measurements of salivary cortisol, subjective experience, heart rate, and high-frequency heart rate variability. In addition, participants were filmed during stress induction to derive the activation of 13 individual muscles or muscle groups, also termed action units (AU). Mean AU intensity and occurrence rates were measured using the opensource software OpenDBM. We found that facial AU activity correlated with different aspects of the psychosocial stress response. Higher stress-induced cortisol release was associated with more frequent upper eyelid raiser (AU05) and upper lip raiser (AU10) occurrences, while more lip corner pulling (AU12) went along with lower cortisol reactivity. More frequent eyelid tightener (AU07) occurrences were linked to higher subjective stress reactivity but decreased heart rate and HF-HRV reactivity. Last, women showed greater stress-induced smiling intensity and occurrence rates than men. We conclude that psychosocial stress reactivity is systematically linked to facial muscle activity, with distinct facial stress profiles emerging for different stress markers. From all the AUs studied, eyelid tightening (AU07) seems to provide the strongest potential for future attempts of diagnosing phases of acute stress via facial activity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:25:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-593ef0f7b67a4f7da7aaab62a5edb242 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-4976 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:25:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology |
| spelling | doaj.art-593ef0f7b67a4f7da7aaab62a5edb2422023-08-05T05:17:52ZengElsevierComprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology2666-49762023-08-0115100187You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stressJost U. Blasberg0Mathilde Gallistl1Magdalena Degering2Felicitas Baierlein3Veronika Engert4Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Corresponding author. Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology Jena University Hospital Friedrich-Schiller-University, Stoystrasse 3, 07740, Jena, Germany.Research Group Social Stress and Family Health, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyResearch Group Social Stress and Family Health, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyResearch Group Social Stress and Family Health, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyInstitute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Research Group Social Stress and Family Health, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), GermanyQuality and quantity of the human stress response are highly individual. Not only are there differences in terms of psychological and physiological stress reactivity, but also with regard to facial muscle stress reactivity. In a first correlative pilot study to decipher the signature of stress as it presents in the physiognomy of a stressed individual, we investigated how stress-induced muscle movement activity in the face is associated with stress marker activation during a standardized laboratory stress test. Female and male participants (N = 62) completed the Trier Social Stress Test and provided multiple measurements of salivary cortisol, subjective experience, heart rate, and high-frequency heart rate variability. In addition, participants were filmed during stress induction to derive the activation of 13 individual muscles or muscle groups, also termed action units (AU). Mean AU intensity and occurrence rates were measured using the opensource software OpenDBM. We found that facial AU activity correlated with different aspects of the psychosocial stress response. Higher stress-induced cortisol release was associated with more frequent upper eyelid raiser (AU05) and upper lip raiser (AU10) occurrences, while more lip corner pulling (AU12) went along with lower cortisol reactivity. More frequent eyelid tightener (AU07) occurrences were linked to higher subjective stress reactivity but decreased heart rate and HF-HRV reactivity. Last, women showed greater stress-induced smiling intensity and occurrence rates than men. We conclude that psychosocial stress reactivity is systematically linked to facial muscle activity, with distinct facial stress profiles emerging for different stress markers. From all the AUs studied, eyelid tightening (AU07) seems to provide the strongest potential for future attempts of diagnosing phases of acute stress via facial activity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666497623000218Psychosocial stressFacial activityAction-unitsFacial-feedbackTSST |
| spellingShingle | Jost U. Blasberg Mathilde Gallistl Magdalena Degering Felicitas Baierlein Veronika Engert You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology Psychosocial stress Facial activity Action-units Facial-feedback TSST |
| title | You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| title_full | You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| title_fullStr | You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| title_short | You look stressed: A pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| title_sort | you look stressed a pilot study on facial action unit activity in the context of psychosocial stress |
| topic | Psychosocial stress Facial activity Action-units Facial-feedback TSST |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666497623000218 |
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