Page 64 - Demo
P. 64


                                    Chapter 362of images with prototypical emotional facial expressions (Bornemann et al., 2012; Rymarczyk et al., 2011; Varcin et al., 2019). Further, increases in sympathetic arousal as indexed by changes in electrodermal activity (e.g., Banks et al., 2012; Tsunoda et al., 2008; Vrana & Gross, 2004) or pupil dilation (Burley et al., 2017; Jessen et al., 2016; Kret, Stekelenburg, et al., 2013) have been observed when participants were shown different prototypical facial emotion displays. In contrast to specific facial muscle activations, however, changes in these markers of sympathetic activity have been suggested to arise from perceiving highly emotionally arousing stimuli in general, independent of the affective content (M. M. Bradley et al., 2008, 2017). Activation of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), resulting in an initial decrease in heart rate (reflecting a freezing response), has specifically been described when being exposed to expressions of anger (Dimberg, 1982; Noordewier et al., 2020; Roelofs et al., 2010). While these findings support the general idea that perceived emotional expressions resonate within the observer%u2019s body, only little is known about the generalizability of effects over expression modalities and over physiological channels since those are rarely directly compared (however see Alpers et al., 2011; Kret et al., 2013). Using multiple physiological measures, the current study explores the specificity of bodily responses when perceiving prototypical facial expressions of emotion, bodily expressions of emotion, and subtle emotion cues.In line with influential emotion theories that highlight bodily states as constitutive parts of affect, such as the James-Lange Theory of Emotion (James, 1884; Lange, 1912) or the Somatic marker hypothesis (Damasio, 1996), researchers have tried to identify patterns in ANS activity for the experience of distinct emotional states (Friedman, 2010). Although physiological information might not be sufficient for a precise classification (Siegel et al., 2018), integrated signals from multiple bodily systems as well as predictions about one%u2019s affective state have been proposed to inform subjective emotional experience (Garfinkel & Critchley, 2013; Pace-Schott et al., 2019). But how does this relate to cases in which our own body becomes a platform to reflect other individuals%u2019 emotions on? Spontaneous mimicry of emotional expressions has not only been suggested to influence the emotional experience of the mimicker (E. Hatfield et al., 1993; Prochazkova & Kret, 2017), but also to facilitate recognition of the mimicked individual%u2019s emotions (Niedenthal, 2007; Palagi et al., 2020). The role of mimicry in emotion recognition is, to date, mostly investigated in facial muscle activity and evidence for a supporting role is 
                                
   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68