Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 1;14(7):e0218676. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218676. eCollection 2019.
From early in life, facial mimicry represents an important example of implicit non-verbal communication. Facial mimicry is conceived of as the automatic tendency to mimic another person's facial expressions and is thought to serve as a social glue among interaction partners. Although in adults mimicry has been shown to be moderated by the social context and one's needs to affiliate with others, evidence from behavioural mimicry studies suggest that 3-year-olds do not yet show sensitivity to social dynamics. Here, we examined whether attachment tendencies, as a proxy for interindividual differences in affiliation motivation, modulates facial mimicry in 3-year-olds. Resistant and avoidant insecure attachment tendencies are characterized by high and low affiliation motivation, respectively, and these were hypothesized to lead to either enhancement or suppression of mimicry. Additionally, we hypothesized that these effects will be moderated by inhibitory control skills. Facial mimicry of happy and sad expressions was recorded with electromyography (EMG), attachment tendencies were assessed with a parent-report questionnaire and inhibitory control with the gift delay task. The final sample consisted of 42 children, with overall scores suggesting secure attachment. Our findings revealed that 3-year-olds mimicked happy and sad facial expressions. Moreover, resistant tendencies predicted enhanced sad but not happy facial mimicry, whereas avoidant tendencies were not significantly related to mimicry. These effects were not moderated by inhibitory control skills. In conclusion, these findings provide the first evidence for the modulation of mimicry by attachment tendencies and their underlying motivation for affiliation in young children, specifically for negatively-valenced emotional expressions.
从早期开始，面部模仿就代表了一种重要的内隐非言语交流范例。面部模仿被认为是一种自动倾向，即模仿他人的面部表情，并且被认为是互动伙伴之间的社交黏合剂。尽管成年人的模仿行为已经被证明受到社会背景和与他人联系的需求的调节，但行为模仿研究的证据表明，3 岁的儿童还没有表现出对社会动态的敏感性。在这里，我们研究了依恋倾向是否作为个体间联系动机差异的代理，调节 3 岁儿童的面部模仿。抵抗和回避不安全依恋倾向的特点分别是高和低的联系动机，这被假设会导致模仿的增强或抑制。此外，我们假设这些影响将受到抑制控制技能的调节。通过肌电图（EMG）记录快乐和悲伤表情的面部模仿，通过父母报告问卷评估依恋倾向，通过礼物延迟任务评估抑制控制。最终样本由 42 名儿童组成，整体得分表明存在安全依恋。我们的研究结果表明，3 岁儿童模仿快乐和悲伤的面部表情。此外，抵抗倾向预测增强了悲伤表情的模仿，但不影响快乐表情的模仿，而回避倾向与模仿没有显著关系。这些影响不受抑制控制技能的调节。总之，这些发现为依恋倾向及其对儿童特别是对负面情绪表达的联系动机对面部模仿的调节提供了第一个证据。
