Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Universitat de Barcelona, Insitute of Neuroscience, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron 171, ES-08035 Barcelona, Spain.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2022 Oct;230:103773. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103773. Epub 2022 Oct 17.
In two studies we investigate the role of affective factors and top-down processes underlying production and deliberate control of emotional facial expressions and its neural underpinnings. In Study 1 we examine facial expressions of joy, fear and disgust depending on the emotional content of the visual stimuli (upright faces, inverted faces, emotion inducing pictures without faces). In Study 2 we focus on expressions of joy and disgust depending on gaze direction (with and without eye contact) in a more natural setting with a real person as stimulus. We hypothesized that the more automatic processes are induced by stimuli (e.g., arousal, mimicry or social cues like eye contact) the harder it is to control facial expressions; particularly expressions of joy compared to fear and disgust. In both studies we used go/no-go tasks and showed faster RTs for conditions with upright faces or eye contact, respectively. We also found faster RTs for expressions of joy than of fear and disgust. In Study 1 participants showed more errors in no-go trials for expressions of joy than for expressions of fear and disgust, indicating worse top-down control for expressions of joy than of fear or disgust. An ERP analysis of the no-go P3 in Study 1 revealed larger amplitudes for upright faces compared with both inverted faces and emotion inducing pictures and larger amplitudes for expressions of joy than for disgust. This indicates greater demand of top-down control when automatic mimicry processes are activated and some degree of specificity to particular facial expressions. In Study 2 more errors in no-go trials in conditions with eye contact only for expressions of joy indicate mimicry could be larger for expressions with high affiliative intent like expressions of joy, and reduced mimicry for negative expressions. All results indicate that facial expressions buffered by automatic processes (e.g., mimicry) have a greater need for top-down control, especially expressions of joy compared to expressions of fear and disgust.
在两项研究中，我们调查了情感因素和自上而下的过程在产生和故意控制情绪面部表情及其神经基础中的作用。在研究 1 中，我们根据视觉刺激的情感内容（直立面孔、倒置面孔、无面孔的情绪诱导图片）来检查喜悦、恐惧和厌恶的面部表情。在研究 2 中，我们专注于在更自然的环境中，以真实的人为刺激，根据注视方向（有无眼神接触）来表达喜悦和厌恶。我们假设，刺激引起的自动过程越多（例如，唤醒、模仿或社会线索，如眼神接触），控制面部表情就越困难；尤其是与恐惧和厌恶相比，表达喜悦更难。在两项研究中，我们都使用了 Go/No-Go 任务，并且分别显示了直立面孔或眼神接触条件下更快的 RT。我们还发现，喜悦的表情比恐惧和厌恶的表情 RT 更快。在研究 1 中，参与者在不能表达喜悦的情况下比在不能表达恐惧和厌恶的情况下出现更多的错误，这表明与恐惧或厌恶相比，对喜悦的表情的自上而下的控制更差。研究 1 中 No-Go P3 的 ERP 分析显示，与倒置面孔和情绪诱导图片相比，直立面孔的振幅更大，与厌恶相比，喜悦的表情振幅更大。这表明，当自动模仿过程被激活时，需要更高水平的自上而下的控制，并且对特定的面部表情具有一定程度的特异性。在研究 2 中，只有在有眼神接触的条件下，喜悦的表情在 No-Go 试验中出现更多的错误，这表明具有高度亲和意向的表情，如喜悦的表情，可能会引起更大的模仿，而对于负面的表情，则会减少模仿。所有的结果都表明，被自动过程（例如模仿）缓冲的面部表情需要更高水平的自上而下的控制，尤其是与恐惧和厌恶相比，喜悦的表情更需要控制。
