Department of Psychology, Barnard College of Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Emotion. 2010 Jun;10(3):433-40. doi: 10.1037/a0018690.
Although it was proposed over a century ago that feedback from facial expressions influence emotional experience, tests of this hypothesis have been equivocal. Here we directly tested this facial feedback hypothesis (FFH) by comparing the impact on self-reported emotional experience of BOTOX injections (which paralyze muscles of facial expression) and a control Restylane injection (which is a cosmetic filler that does not affect facial muscles). When examined alone, BOTOX participants showed no pre- to posttreatment changes in emotional responses to our most positive and negative video clips. Between-groups comparisons, however, showed that relative to controls, BOTOX participants exhibited an overall significant decrease in the strength of emotional experience. This result was attributable to (a) a pre- versus postdecrease in responses to mildly positive clips in the BOTOX group and (b) an unexpected increase in responses to negative clips in the Restylane control group. These data suggest that feedback from facial expressions is not necessary for emotional experience, but may influence emotional experience in some circumstances. These findings point to specific directions for future work clarifying the expression-experience relationship.
虽然面部表情反馈影响情绪体验的假设早在一个多世纪前就已提出，但对该假设的检验结果一直存在争议。在这里，我们通过比较肉毒杆菌素注射（使面部表情肌瘫痪）和对照型瑞蓝注射（一种不会影响面部肌肉的美容填充物）对自我报告的情绪体验的影响，直接检验了这一面部反馈假说（FFH）。单独检查时，肉毒杆菌素注射组在对我们最积极和最消极的视频片段的情绪反应方面，在治疗前和治疗后没有变化。然而，组间比较显示，与对照组相比，肉毒杆菌素注射组的情绪体验强度总体显著下降。这一结果归因于（a）肉毒杆菌素组对轻度积极片段的反应在治疗前和治疗后下降，以及（b）对照组对消极片段的反应出人意料地增加。这些数据表明，面部表情的反馈对于情绪体验并非必需，但在某些情况下可能会影响情绪体验。这些发现为未来阐明表情-体验关系的工作指明了具体方向。
