Department of Psychology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Psychol Sci. 2009 Oct;20(10):1254-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02432.x. Epub 2009 Aug 31.
This study assessed embodied simulation via electromyography (EMG) as participants first encoded emotionally ambiguous faces with emotion concepts (i.e., "angry,""happy") and later passively viewed the faces without the concepts. Memory for the faces was also measured. At initial encoding, participants displayed more smiling-related EMG activity in response to faces paired with "happy" than in response to faces paired with "angry." Later, in the absence of concepts, participants remembered happiness-encoded faces as happier than anger-encoded faces. Further, during passive reexposure to the ambiguous faces, participants' EMG indicated spontaneous emotion-specific mimicry, which in turn predicted memory bias. No specific EMG activity was observed when participants encoded or viewed faces with non-emotion-related valenced concepts, or when participants encoded or viewed Chinese ideographs. From an embodiment perspective, emotion simulation is a measure of what is currently perceived. Thus, these findings provide evidence of genuine concept-driven changes in emotion perception. More generally, the findings highlight embodiment's role in the representation and processing of emotional information.
本研究通过肌电图 (EMG) 评估了具身模拟，参与者首先用情绪概念（例如，“愤怒”“快乐”）对情绪模糊的面孔进行编码，然后被动地观看不带概念的面孔。还测量了对这些面孔的记忆。在初始编码时，与配对的“快乐”相比，参与者对配对的“愤怒”的面孔表现出更多与微笑相关的 EMG 活动。后来，在没有概念的情况下，参与者将编码为“快乐”的面孔回忆为比编码为“愤怒”的面孔更快乐。此外，在对模糊面孔进行被动重新暴露时，参与者的 EMG 表明自发的情绪特异性模仿，这反过来又预测了记忆偏差。当参与者编码或观看与非情绪相关的有价值的概念的面孔，或当参与者编码或观看汉字时，没有观察到特定的 EMG 活动。从体现的角度来看，情绪模拟是当前感知的一种衡量标准。因此，这些发现为情绪感知的真正概念驱动变化提供了证据。更一般地说，这些发现强调了体现在情感信息的表示和处理中的作用。
