Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias
Abstract Blocking facial mimicry can disrupt recognition of emotion stimuli. Many previous studies have focused on facial expressions, and it remains unclear whether this generalises to other types of emotional expressions. Furthermore, by emphasizing categorical recognition judgments, previous stud...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18888-0 |
| _version_ | 1797998732555321344 |
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| author | Kinga Wołoszyn Mateusz Hohol Michał Kuniecki Piotr Winkielman |
| author_facet | Kinga Wołoszyn Mateusz Hohol Michał Kuniecki Piotr Winkielman |
| author_sort | Kinga Wołoszyn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Blocking facial mimicry can disrupt recognition of emotion stimuli. Many previous studies have focused on facial expressions, and it remains unclear whether this generalises to other types of emotional expressions. Furthermore, by emphasizing categorical recognition judgments, previous studies neglected the role of mimicry in other processing stages, including dimensional (valence and arousal) evaluations. In the study presented herein, we addressed both issues by asking participants to listen to brief non-verbal vocalizations of four emotion categories (anger, disgust, fear, happiness) and neutral sounds under two conditions. One of the conditions included blocking facial mimicry by creating constant tension on the lower face muscles, in the other condition facial muscles remained relaxed. After each stimulus presentation, participants evaluated sounds’ category, valence, and arousal. Although the blocking manipulation did not influence emotion recognition, it led to higher valence ratings in a non-category-specific manner, including neutral sounds. Our findings suggest that somatosensory and motor feedback play a role in the evaluation of affect vocalizations, perhaps introducing a directional bias. This distinction between stimulus recognition, stimulus categorization, and stimulus evaluation is important for understanding what cognitive and emotional processing stages involve somatosensory and motor processes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:52:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84b22030ebd04defb0532c2e387318e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:52:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-84b22030ebd04defb0532c2e387318e32022-12-22T04:28:52ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-09-0112111010.1038/s41598-022-18888-0Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity biasKinga Wołoszyn0Mateusz Hohol1Michał Kuniecki2Piotr Winkielman3Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian UniversityCopernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Jagiellonian UniversityInstitute of Psychology, Jagiellonian UniversityDepartment of Psychology, University of California San DiegoAbstract Blocking facial mimicry can disrupt recognition of emotion stimuli. Many previous studies have focused on facial expressions, and it remains unclear whether this generalises to other types of emotional expressions. Furthermore, by emphasizing categorical recognition judgments, previous studies neglected the role of mimicry in other processing stages, including dimensional (valence and arousal) evaluations. In the study presented herein, we addressed both issues by asking participants to listen to brief non-verbal vocalizations of four emotion categories (anger, disgust, fear, happiness) and neutral sounds under two conditions. One of the conditions included blocking facial mimicry by creating constant tension on the lower face muscles, in the other condition facial muscles remained relaxed. After each stimulus presentation, participants evaluated sounds’ category, valence, and arousal. Although the blocking manipulation did not influence emotion recognition, it led to higher valence ratings in a non-category-specific manner, including neutral sounds. Our findings suggest that somatosensory and motor feedback play a role in the evaluation of affect vocalizations, perhaps introducing a directional bias. This distinction between stimulus recognition, stimulus categorization, and stimulus evaluation is important for understanding what cognitive and emotional processing stages involve somatosensory and motor processes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18888-0 |
| spellingShingle | Kinga Wołoszyn Mateusz Hohol Michał Kuniecki Piotr Winkielman Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias Scientific Reports |
| title | Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| title_full | Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| title_fullStr | Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| title_full_unstemmed | Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| title_short | Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| title_sort | restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18888-0 |
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