1
|
Tessier MH, Mazet JP, Gagner E, Marcoux A, Jackson PL. Facial representations of complex affective states combining pain and a negative emotion. Sci Rep 2024; 14:11686. [PMID: 38777852 PMCID: PMC11111784 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62423-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Pain is rarely communicated alone, as it is often accompanied by emotions such as anger or sadness. Communicating these affective states involves shared representations. However, how an individual conceptually represents these combined states must first be tested. The objective of this study was to measure the interaction between pain and negative emotions on two types of facial representations of these states, namely visual (i.e., interactive virtual agents; VAs) and sensorimotor (i.e., one's production of facial configurations). Twenty-eight participants (15 women) read short written scenarios involving only pain or a combined experience of pain and a negative emotion (anger, disgust, fear, or sadness). They produced facial configurations representing these experiences on the faces of the VAs and on their face (own production or imitation of VAs). The results suggest that affective states related to a direct threat to the body (i.e., anger, disgust, and pain) share a similar facial representation, while those that present no immediate danger (i.e., fear and sadness) differ. Although visual and sensorimotor representations of these states provide congruent affective information, they are differently influenced by factors associated with the communication cycle. These findings contribute to our understanding of pain communication in different affective contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Hélène Tessier
- School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (Cirris), Québec City, Canada
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, Québec City, Canada
| | - Jean-Philippe Mazet
- Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada
| | - Elliot Gagner
- School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (Cirris), Québec City, Canada
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, Québec City, Canada
| | - Audrey Marcoux
- School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (Cirris), Québec City, Canada
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, Québec City, Canada
| | - Philip L Jackson
- School of Psychology, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada.
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (Cirris), Québec City, Canada.
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, Québec City, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Japee S, Jordan J, Licht J, Lokey S, Chen G, Snow J, Jabs EW, Webb BD, Engle EC, Manoli I, Baker C, Ungerleider LG. Inability to move one's face dampens facial expression perception. Cortex 2023; 169:35-49. [PMID: 37852041 PMCID: PMC10836030 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
Humans rely heavily on facial expressions for social communication to convey their thoughts and emotions and to understand them in others. One prominent but controversial view is that humans learn to recognize the significance of facial expressions by mimicking the expressions of others. This view predicts that an inability to make facial expressions (e.g., facial paralysis) would result in reduced perceptual sensitivity to others' facial expressions. To test this hypothesis, we developed a diverse battery of sensitive emotion recognition tasks to characterize expression perception in individuals with Moebius Syndrome (MBS), a congenital neurological disorder that causes facial palsy. Using computer-based detection tasks we systematically assessed expression perception thresholds for static and dynamic face and body expressions. We found that while MBS individuals were able to perform challenging perceptual control tasks and body expression tasks, they were less efficient at extracting emotion from facial expressions, compared to matched controls. Exploratory analyses of fMRI data from a small group of MBS participants suggested potentially reduced engagement of the amygdala in MBS participants during expression processing relative to matched controls. Collectively, these results suggest a role for facial mimicry and consequent facial feedback and motor experience in the perception of others' facial expressions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shruti Japee
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Jessica Jordan
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Judith Licht
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Savannah Lokey
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gang Chen
- Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Joseph Snow
- Office of the Clinical Director, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ethylin Wang Jabs
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Bryn D Webb
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Genetics and Metabolism, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Elizabeth C Engle
- Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Irini Manoli
- Medical Genomics and Metabolic Genetics, NHGRI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Chris Baker
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Vannuscorps G, Caramazza A. Effector-specific motor simulation supplements core action recognition processes in adverse conditions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:nsad046. [PMID: 37688518 PMCID: PMC10576201 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsad046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 09/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Observing other people acting activates imitative motor plans in the observer. Whether, and if so when and how, such 'effector-specific motor simulation' contributes to action recognition remains unclear. We report that individuals born without upper limbs (IDs)-who cannot covertly imitate upper-limb movements-are significantly less accurate at recognizing degraded (but not intact) upper-limb than lower-limb actions (i.e. point-light animations). This finding emphasizes the need to reframe the current controversy regarding the role of effector-specific motor simulation in action recognition: instead of focusing on the dichotomy between motor and non-motor theories, the field would benefit from new hypotheses specifying when and how effector-specific motor simulation may supplement core action recognition processes to accommodate the full variety of action stimuli that humans can recognize.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Vannuscorps
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue E. Mounier 53, Brussels 1200, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Kirkland Street 33, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Kirkland Street 33, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- CIMEC (Center for Mind-Brain Sciences), University of Trento, Via delle Regole 101, Mattarello TN 38123, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Quettier T, Maffei A, Gambarota F, Ferrari PF, Sessa P. Testing EEG functional connectivity between sensorimotor and face processing visual regions in individuals with congenital facial palsy. Front Syst Neurosci 2023; 17:1123221. [PMID: 37215358 PMCID: PMC10196055 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2023.1123221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Moebius syndrome (MBS) is characterized by the congenital absence or underdevelopment of cranial nerves VII and VI, leading to facial palsy and impaired lateral eye movements. As a result, MBS individuals cannot produce facial expressions and did not develop motor programs for facial expressions. In the latest model of sensorimotor simulation, an iterative communication between somatosensory, motor/premotor cortices, and visual regions has been proposed, which should allow more efficient discriminations among subtle facial expressions. Accordingly, individuals with congenital facial motor disability, specifically with MBS, should exhibit atypical communication within this network. Here, we aimed to test this facet of the sensorimotor simulation models. We estimated the functional connectivity between the visual cortices for face processing and the sensorimotor cortices in healthy and MBS individuals. To this aim, we studied the strength of beta band functional connectivity between these two systems using high-density EEG, combined with a change detection task with facial expressions (and a control condition involving non-face stimuli). The results supported our hypothesis such that when discriminating subtle facial expressions, participants affected by congenital facial palsy (compared to healthy controls) showed reduced connectivity strength between sensorimotor regions and visual regions for face processing. This effect was absent for the condition with non-face stimuli. These findings support sensorimotor simulation models and the communication between sensorimotor and visual areas during subtle facial expression processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Quettier
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Antonio Maffei
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Filippo Gambarota
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Pier Francesco Ferrari
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Sessa P, Schiano Lomoriello A, Duma GM, Mento G, De Stefani E, Ferrari PF. Degenerate pathway for processing smile and other emotional expressions in congenital facial palsy: an hdEEG investigation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210190. [PMID: 36126673 PMCID: PMC9489284 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Influential theoretical models argue that an internal simulation mechanism (motor or sensorimotor simulation) supports the recognition of facial expressions. However, despite numerous converging sources of evidence, recent studies testing patients with congenital facial palsy (i.e. Moebius syndrome) seem to refute these theoretical models. However, these results do not consider the principles of neuroplasticity and degeneracy that could support the involvement of an alternative neural processing pathway in these patients. In the present study, we tested healthy participants and participants with Moebius syndrome in a highly sensitive facial expression discrimination task and concomitant high-density electroencephalographic recording. The results, both at the scalp and source levels, indicate the activation of two different pathways of facial expression processing in healthy participants and participants with Moebius syndrome, compatible, respectively, with a dorsal pathway that includes premotor areas and a ventral pathway. Therefore, these results support the reactivation of sensorimotor representations of facial expressions (i.e. simulation) in healthy subjects, in the place of an alternative processing pathway in subjects with congenital facial palsy. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience’.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Via G. Orus 2b, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Arianna Schiano Lomoriello
- Section for Cognitive Systems, DTU Compute, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Gian Marco Duma
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Mento
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35129 Padova, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Via G. Orus 2b, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Elisa De Stefani
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
| | - Pier Francesco Ferrari
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy.,Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron, France
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Keating CT, Sowden S, Cook JL. Comparing internal representations of facial expression kinematics between autistic and non-autistic adults. Autism Res 2021; 15:493-506. [PMID: 34846102 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent developments suggest that autistic individuals require dynamic angry expressions to have a higher speed in order for them to be successfully identified. Therefore, it is plausible that autistic individuals do not have a 'deficit' in angry expression recognition, but rather their internal representation of these expressions is characterised by very high-speed movement. In this study, matched groups of autistic and non-autistic adults completed a novel emotion-based task which employed dynamic displays of happy, angry and sad point light facial (PLF) expressions. On each trial, participants moved a slider to manipulate the speed of a PLF stimulus until it moved at a speed that, in their 'mind's eye', was typical of happy, angry or sad expressions. Participants were shown three different types of PLFs-those showing the full-face, only the eye region, and only the mouth region, wherein the latter two were included to test whether differences in facial information sampling underpinned any dissimilarities in speed attributions. Across both groups, participants attributed the highest speeds to angry, then happy, then sad, facial motion. Participants increased the speed of angry and happy expressions by 41% and 27% respectively and decreased the speed of sad expressions by 18%. This suggests that participants have 'caricatured' internal representations of emotion, wherein emotion-related kinematic cues are over-emphasised. There were no differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals in the speeds attributed to full-face and partial-face angry, happy and sad expressions respectively. Consequently, we find no evidence that autistic adults possess atypically fast internal representations of anger.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sophie Sowden
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jennifer L Cook
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Shifting attention in visuospatial short-term memory does not require oculomotor planning: Insight from congenital gaze paralysis. Neuropsychologia 2021; 161:107998. [PMID: 34419490 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Attention allows pieces of information stored in visuospatial short-term memory (VSSTM) to be selectively processed. Previous studies showed that shifts of attention in VSSTM in response to a retro-cue are accompanied by eye movements in the direction of the position of the memorized item although there is nothing left to look at. This finding raises the possibility that shifts of attention in VSSTM are underpinned by mechanisms originally involved in the planning and control of eye movements. To explore this possibility, we investigated the ability of an individual with congenital horizontal gaze paralysis (HGP2) to shift her attention horizontally or vertically toward a memorized item within VSSTM using a retro-cue paradigm. As efficient oculomotor programming is not innate but requires some trial and error learning and adaptation to develop, congenital paralysis prevents this development. Consequently, if shifts of attention in VSSTM rely on the same mechanisms as those supporting the programming of eye movements, then horizontal congenital gaze paralysis should necessarily prevent typical retro-cueing effect in the paralyzed axis. At odds with this prediction, HGP2 showed a typical retro-cueing effect in her paralyzed axis. This original finding indicates that selecting an item within VSSTM does not depend on the ability to program a saccade.
Collapse
|
8
|
Vannuscorps G, Andres M, Carneiro SP, Rombaux E, Caramazza A. Typically Efficient Lipreading without Motor Simulation. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 33:611-621. [PMID: 33416443 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
All it takes is a face-to-face conversation in a noisy environment to realize that viewing a speaker's lip movements contributes to speech comprehension. What are the processes underlying the perception and interpretation of visual speech? Brain areas that control speech production are also recruited during lipreading. This finding raises the possibility that lipreading may be supported, at least to some extent, by a covert unconscious imitation of the observed speech movements in the observer's own speech motor system-a motor simulation. However, whether, and if so to what extent, motor simulation contributes to visual speech interpretation remains unclear. In two experiments, we found that several participants with congenital facial paralysis were as good at lipreading as the control population and performed these tasks in a way that is qualitatively similar to the controls despite severely reduced or even completely absent lip motor representations. Although it remains an open question whether this conclusion generalizes to other experimental conditions and to typically developed participants, these findings considerably narrow the space of hypothesis for a role of motor simulation in lipreading. Beyond its theoretical significance in the field of speech perception, this finding also calls for a re-examination of the more general hypothesis that motor simulation underlies action perception and interpretation developed in the frameworks of motor simulation and mirror neuron hypotheses.
Collapse
|
9
|
Anders S, Verrel J, Haynes JD, Ethofer T. Pseudo-hyperscanning shows common neural activity during face-to-face communication of affect to be associated with shared affective feelings but not with mere emotion recognition. Cortex 2020; 131:210-220. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2019] [Revised: 03/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
|
10
|
Vannuscorps G, Andres M, Caramazza A. Efficient recognition of facial expressions does not require motor simulation. eLife 2020; 9:54687. [PMID: 32364498 PMCID: PMC7217693 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
What mechanisms underlie facial expression recognition? A popular hypothesis holds that efficient facial expression recognition cannot be achieved by visual analysis alone but additionally requires a mechanism of motor simulation — an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed facial postures and movements. Here, we first discuss why this hypothesis does not necessarily follow from extant empirical evidence. Next, we report experimental evidence against the central premise of this view: we demonstrate that individuals can achieve normotypical efficient facial expression recognition despite a congenital absence of relevant facial motor representations and, therefore, unaided by motor simulation. This underscores the need to reconsider the role of motor simulation in facial expression recognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Vannuscorps
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.,Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.,Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Michael Andres
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.,Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States.,Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Università degli Studi di Trento, Mattarello, Italy
| |
Collapse
|