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/lp/springer-journals/multilevel-analysis-of-facial-expressions-of-emotion-and-script-self-0lkBru4DIK
- Publisher
- Springer Journals
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2014 by Balconi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
- Subject
- Biomedicine; Neurosciences; Neurology; Behavioral Therapy; Psychiatry
- eISSN
- 1744-9081
- DOI
- 10.1186/1744-9081-10-32
- pmid
- 25261242
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- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Background: The paper explored emotion comprehension in children with regard to facial expression of emotion. The effect of valence and arousal evaluation, of context and of psychophysiological measures was monitored. Indeed subjective evaluation of valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (high vs. low), and contextual (facial expression vs. facial expression and script) variables were supposed to modulate the psychophysiological responses. Methods: Self-report measures (in terms of correct recognition, arousal and valence attribution) and psychophysiological correlates (facial electromyography, EMG, skin conductance response, SCR, and heart rate, HR) were observed when children (N = 26; mean age = 8.75 y; range 6-11 y) looked at six facial expressions of emotions (happiness, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, and disgust) and six emotional scripts (contextualized facial expressions). The competencies about the recognition, the evaluation on valence and arousal was tested in concomitance with psychophysiological variations. Specifically, we tested for the congruence of these multiple measures. Results: Log-linear analysis and repeated measure ANOVAs showed different representations across the subjects, as a function of emotion. Specifically, children’ recognition and attribution were well developed for some emotions (such as anger, fear, surprise and happiness), whereas some other emotions (mainly disgust and sadness) were less clearly represented. SCR, HR and EMG measures were modulated by the evaluation based on valence and arousal, with increased psychophysiological values mainly in response to anger, fear and happiness. Conclusions: As shown by multiple regression analysis, a significant consonance was found between self-report measures and psychophysiological behavior, mainly for emotions rated as more arousing and negative in valence. The multilevel measures were discussed at light of dimensional attribution model. Keywords: Facial expression of emotion, EMG, Valence, Psychophysiology Introduction skills are important predictors of children’s emotional In the last two decades, developmental psychology has awareness [3]. seen an increasing interest in the study of emotion com- More specifically, Bullock and Russell [4] proposed a prehension. Specifically, emotional face recognition and model in which children acquire a system to represent understanding represent a primary social competence, and classify emotions which is based on a limited num- because they contribute to social interactions and social ber of wide categories. The most important of them are management [1]. These competencies are related to gen- the two dimensional axes of the hedonic value and the eral cognitive functions and it was shown that language arousal level. This model was tested by some empirical was the most important predictor of nonverbal emotion studies which found that firstly children interpret facial recognition ability [2]. Indeed both gender and verbal expressions in terms of pleasure-displeasure (bipolar he- donic value) and intensity (arousal level). Only successively they use more articulated and wider conceptual categories * Correspondence: michela.balconi@unicatt.it [5,6]. To verify the type of categorization applied to the Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of emotional domain, affective responses organized around Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan Largo Gemelli, 1, 20123 Milan, Italy © 2014 Balconi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 2 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 the arousal and valence dimension include subjective specific difficulty in understanding the emotions that experience, often measured using self-report responses to present a lack of correspondence between people expecta- affective stimuli. At this regard, Self-Assessment Manikin tions and environment events. These emotions have an (SAM) was used to test this subjective emotional correlates external and social origin, such as surprise, dismay, and [7]. It was also demonstrated that age, facial expression in- astonishment. In parallel, Capps, Yirmiya, and Sigman tensity and emotion category are important for predicting [20] observed a greater impairment in recognizing and la- accuracy on emotion-processing tasks [8]. belling the expression of those emotions that have an ex- Previous results demonstrate how task type and chil- ternal locus of control and, simultaneously, that require a dren’s mood influence children’s emotion processing [9]. wide knowledge of the social scripts and of their social Indeed, in order to explain this developmental process, consequences. In line with this hypothesis, Baron-Cohen, the type of emotions children have to recognize is a first Spitz, and Cross [22] suggested that the comprehension is main factor related to decoding competencies [10]. More more difficult for emotions that imply the activation of generally, in line with Russell’s model of emotional ex- some cognitive functions, such as mentalization and perience, emotion fundamentally varies activation in metarepresentation. In general, previous results provide centrally organized appetitive and aversive motivational evidence for late developmental changes in emotional ex- systems that have evolved to mediate the wide range of pression recognition with some specificity in the time adaptive behaviors necessary for an organism struggling course for distinct emotions [23]. Indeed it was found that to survive in the physical world [11-13]. Most pleasant some emotions, like disgust and sadness, are more often affects are held to be associated with the appetitive mo- confused with other primary and early developed emo- tivation system; unpleasant affects with defensive motiv- tions, such as anger or fear and they are not spontan- ation [14]. Thus, a primary distinction among emotional eously labelled in comparison with other emotions such as events is whether they are appetitive or aversive, positive anger, fear or happiness. or negative, pleasant or unpleasant, which clearly relates Thus, it was also supposed that, through a progressive to the motivational parameter of direction. Secondly, all process of script generalization, a “situated” comprehension agree that hedonically valenced events differ in the de- of emotions arises. The process of emotion categorization gree of to which they arouse or engage action, which is is well illustrated by the use of adequate attribution. Indeed, related to intensity parameter. Emotional intensity prob- emotional labels constitute the final step of a developmental ably reflects the strength of activation in motivational sys- process that goes through a “dimensional attribution” tems subserving appetitive and defensive behaviors and, as (characterized by the presence of pleasure-displeasure cor- such, has impact on the type of physiological response. In- relate) to a “situational attribution” (the script representa- tensity was conceptualized as “predator imminence”,or tion). This should be taken into consideration in studying the distance of the threatening pattern from the subject the development of emotional decoding, because these [15] or in terms of distance from an aversive or appetitive competencies seem to be bound not only to cognitive but, goal [16]. More generally, arousal in humans appears to above all, to social and communicative competencies, reflect the degree to which a stimulus elicits appropriate which have an influence on emotion conceptualization. appetitive or defensive behaviors. Thus, the two dimen- Thus, another main concern is represented by contextual sions of pleasure and arousal explain the majority of the and situational elements that cause emotion and that might emotional experience and subjective judgment, and the in- facilitate or not the emotion processing and comprehension creased perception of emotional significance of a stimulus [24]. As Russell and Widen [25] underlined, in everyday ex- in term of valence may increase the perception of its perience children use facial expressions in order to infer arousing power [17]. emotions. On the other hand, the facial cues are always lo- Secondly, it should be noted that young subjects showed cated in an interactive context. In other words, it is neces- sary to take into account the role of a wider socializing to be competent in the decoding of the primary or simple emotions (e.g. happiness and anger), but they have more context. Therefore, the concept of emotional context, difficulties in processing secondary or complex emotions, considered as a complex and multidimensional representa- such as pride and embarrassment [18-20]. To identify tion of situational events, is relevant in facial expression these emotions more time and more informational cues processing. must be analyzed. Moreover, as regard to the secondary Thirdly, it was observed that behavioral and physio- emotions or emotions developed only later during the de- logical responses to emotional pictures co-vary with velopmental phases, a more accentuated difficulty in un- system evaluation (pleasure/displeasure) and motive in- derstanding causal antecedents (the events that caused the tensity (arousal) [26,27]. Psychophysiological responses emotion expressed by face) and contextual relations (the are not directly observable, and they include cardiovas- social situations in which the emotion is produced) cular, electrodermal, respiratory measures, etc. It was emerges [21]. Bormann-Kischkel et al. [10] observed a underlined that emotion comprehension plays a critical Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 3 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 role in adaptive behavior, since it promotes survival and emotional arousal were co-varied, skin conductance re- guides human behavior by exerting a direct influence on sponses were largest for highly arousing stimuli, irrespect- brain responsiveness and psychophysiological activities. ive of hedonic valence [40], consistent with the notion Between the others, facial action revealed by EMG meas- that these reactions primarily reflect differences in emo- ure (electromyogram), heart rate, and skin conductance tional arousal, rather than hedonic valence per se. were observed to variate in concomitance of pleasure and About these psychophysiological variations in response displeasure reports while viewing of emotional patterns. to emotions and facial stimuli, an important debate More specifically, about the psychophysiological mea- regards the presence of a coherent response by psycho- sures, facial behavior using electromyography (EMG) physiological measures in childhood, as it was observed suggested they were sensitive to the valence dimensions, in adult behavior. Previous research found consistent with increased corrugator activity in response to unpleas- patterns of psychophysiological activation also by chil- ant patterns and zygomatic activity in response to pleasant dren in response to emotional stimuli [41,42]. Nevertheless, patterns. Facial EMG (electromyographic) activity accom- to verify the coherence of these physiological measures in panies changes in appetitive (positive) and defensive (nega- young people in response to facial emotional patterns, spe- tive) activation [28]. Specifically, the corrugator muscle cific analysis should be conducted which included both appears to be responsive of to judgment of unpleasant arousal and valence parameters. event compared to neutral pictures [27]. Many studies Therefore, emotional behavior manifests within multiple found a consistent and significant relationship between domains, comprehending conceptual and self-report attri- corrugator and hedonic valence, with greater corrugator bution, autonomic responses (physiological systems), and activity elicited when viewing the most unpleasant stimuli the comprehension of contextual components, which all [29]. Moreover, Bradley, Codisposti, Sabatinelli, and Lang may have a significant role in this process. However, no [30] showed that pictures that produce disgust (for ex- previous study has directly analyzed the relationship ample mutilation), that were higher in arousal, prompt lar- between these multilevel measures, that is self-report ger changes than other unpleasant pictures. evaluation based on valence and arousal parameters, psy- Other physiological measures of emotional behavior in- chophysiological behavior and contextual cue variability. clude heart rate (HR), with observed increased HR acceler- The present study was finalized to explore the conver- ation to pleasant patterns and increased HR deceleration to gence of these different measures. unpleasant patterns [30]. Moreover, investigations exploring In the present research the effect of some main factors, cardiovascular activity in emotion perception assessed vari- valence modulation (emotional type) from one hand, and ations as a function of differences in stimulus intensity, as contextual effect (face alone vs. facial display within a this variable was revealed critical in eliciting orienting or script), from the other, was considered. Specifically, we defense response [27,30-32]. Low-intensity stimuli were explored their influence on physiological reactivity (auto- found to relate with heart rate deceleration, whereas intense nomic activity) and emotional attribution (self-report stimuli were observed to activate defense responses associ- attributional process), which are all relevant to the de- ated with heart rate acceleration [33-36]. Nevertheless, also scription of the emotional responses [26,43]. Thus, the contrasting results were collected, since heart initially de- purpose of this study is to verify the attended psycho- celerated, rather than accelerated, when people viewed physiological and attributional responses to emotion vari- pictures of unpleasant emotional events, contrary to the no- ation, and, secondly, to show that the attributional process tions that these aversive stimuli might prompt defensive was related to valence and to context modulation. heart rate acceleration [27,30,37]. However, different experi- Previous assumptions should be strengthened by the mental paradigms were adopted in previous research and, following hypotheses: in some cases, no direct comparison can be conducted be- 1) Faces evaluated as more negative or positive in term tween them. Moreover, it was found electrodermal activity (Skin of valence and arousing power should elicit more Conductance Response, SCR) consistently varies with intense responses, being the subjects more engaged with the stimulus, whereas neutral stimuli should be emotional intensity, with larger responses elicited in either unpleasant and pleasant context and that are more less involving and intense, and, consequently, differ pronounced in those that are rated as highly arousing in affective rating from emotional stimuli. The interaction effect of these two parameters (i.e. [27,38,39]. Thus, also electrodermal reactions increase with increases in defensive or appetitive activation [30,37]. valence and arousal) is also expected. This would In general, it was found increased skin conductance when suggest that effects due to emotional arousal should people view pictures rated as emotional, compared to neu- be greater for highly unpleasant and pleasant tral, regardless they are rated pleasant or unpleasant in he- stimuli, which were rated as slightly more arousing donic valence [27]. However, when hedonic valence and than stimuli evaluated as less positive/negative [44]. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 4 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 2) Secondly, HR, EMG, and SCR should show a function as a facilitation cue to correctly interpret the modulation in correlation with emotionally relevant, whole emotional event. This facilitation should be arousing and pleasant or unpleasant stimuli. We mainly more evident for the secondary emotions, as expected that subjects might be more emotionally disgust, because in order to comprehend this emotion, involved by a highly negative or positive and more subjects have to understand some contextual or arousing stimulus than neutral or low-arousing pic- “external” elements. Finally, this facilitation effect tures, and that they might have a more intense psy- should be supported by psychophysiological measures, chophysiological activation while viewing a negative and in parallel situational cues should support the SCR or positive than a neutral pattern when they are also increasing (more positive and negative emotions); the perceived as more arousing [13]. This should pro- increased corrugator activity in response to negative duce an increased SCR and HR response, and the emotions, and the increased zygomatic activity in modulation of facial EMG. Specifically, we expected response to positive emotions. an increased SCR for more positive and negative emotions, an increased corrugator activity in re- Method sponse to negative emotions and an increased zygo- Participants matic activity in response to positive emotions. The sample includes 26 normal children. Ages varied Finally a general higher HR should be expected from 6 to 11 (M = 8.75; S.D. = 0.78; range = 6-11.5; 15 fe- mainly for more arousing emotions. males and 11 males). None of them presented cognitive 3) Furthermore, we expect that children may have or linguistic deficits. With regard to cognitive compe- more difficulties to decode and understand emotions tencies, children presented a middle-high or high func- generally considered as more complex and learned tioning cognitive profile (WAIS-IV FSIQ: M = 87; range: only successively (such as disgust) rather than 70-120). No history of psychiatric or neurological impair- primary basic emotions (such as happiness, anger, ments was observed for the participants. Indeed two neuro- and fear). In particular, we focus our attention on psychologists applied a specific semi-structured interview the representation of the dimensional axes of before the experimental session to test no clinical impair- hedonic/arousal value, that engenders the ments. The presence of other deficits on the perceptive or acquisition of a more complex conceptual cognitive levels was excluded. Child’ parents gave informed representation [5,45]. Thanks to this acquisition it written consent to participate in the study by their sons, can be produced the developmental process, that and the research was approved by the local ethics commit- includes an initial competence in the discrimination tee (Catholic University Ethic Committee, Department of of basic emotional categories and a successive Psychology). comprehension of more complex emotional categories (as disgust or sadness). Thus we supposed Materials that about these emotions children could have more Facial stimuli difficulty to give a spontaneous attributional correct The facial stimuli (cardboards black and white 10 cm × 10 attribution (in term of valence and arousal) to the cm), which consist of an emotional face of a young boy facial patterns. Secondly they should be less showing six emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, dis- physiologically responsive to these emotional cues, gust and surprise) and one neutral face. The stimulus ma- based on the intrinsic relationship that we expected terial was selected by Ekman and Friesen database [46]. to exist between attributional and We have opted for a young actor aged similarly to the ex- psychophysiological processes. perimental subjects, in order to facilitate the identification 4) Fourthly, based on the “situational” perspective to process, which would make easier the recognition task explain facial emotion comprehension, we may (Figure 1a). suppose that emotion decoding is the result of the elaboration of multiple emotional cues, among which Emotional scripts facial patterns (facial expressions), behavioral correlates The material consists of 6 pictures (coloured cardboards (the causal bonds between events), as well as specific 10 cm × 15 cm) with an emotional content and one neu- contextual factors (eliciting emotional context). The tral picture (see Figure 1b). Pictures illustrate contextu- comparison between two different types of condition alized situations eliciting the emotional correlates of (only a facial expression of an emotion; a facial happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust expression within an emotional script) allows us to [5,45]. In particular each picture presents a character (a explore in detail the role of the eliciting context in the girl or a boy) in an interactive context (with peers or emotion. We suppose that script facilitates subjects’ adults). In addition, the presence of a clear emotional fa- recognition. According to our hypothesis, a script will cial expression was considered a discriminant stimulus for Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 5 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Figure 1 Examples of (a) facial stimuli and (b) emotional scripts. the selection of the pictures. The pertinence of the emo- represented subjects), and the complexity (number of de- tional content for each emotional script, the homogeneity tails represented) were tested with a 5-points Likert scale. of the stimuli in terms of cognitive complexity and famil- No significant differences were found between emotions iarity were tested in a pre-experimental phase (12 males for homogeneity F (6,11) = 1.18, p = .40; and complexity: F and females; 6-11 years). Stimulus homogeneity, intended (6,11) = 1.64, p =.31). as the degree of difficulty in comprehending the situation In each phase, first time stimuli were presented simultan- represented in the script (clarity of the context and the eously, in order to allow familiarization with the material. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 6 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 In a second assessment, they were presented one at time, in from analysis, whereas trials with no detectable response a random sequence, varying the order of the stimulus were scored as zero. Facial electromyographic (EMG) ac- across the participants. Furthermore, to avoid a possible tivity in the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii order effect between the experimental conditions, some muscle regions were considered. The electrodes (4 mm subjects were submitted to face decoding condition and diameter Ag/AgCl electrodes), filled with Surgicon elec- successively to emotional script condition, whereas other trolyte paste, were positioned over the corrugator and subjects decoded the stimulus materials in an opposite se- zygomatic muscles in accordance with guidelines for psy- quence (firstly the emotional script and then the facial chophysiological recording [49,50]. Frequencies of interest expression). generally ranged from 20 to 400 Hz. Corrugator and zygo- matic EMG responses were successively scored as the dif- Procedure ference between the mean rectified corrugator/zygomatic Subjects were told that they had to evaluate some pic- signals present during the presentation of the stimuli and tures (faces or scenes) based on some rating scales. Self- the mean rectified signals in the 1 s prior to stimulus pres- Assessment Manikin was used to test the self-report entation (baseline measure). A positive value indicates that measures on a nine-point scale hedonic value (positive/ the corrugator/zygomatic measures were greater during negative) and arousal value of the emotional content the experimental phase than during the baseline phase. (more/less arousing) [7]. After each presentation of the All the data were acquired for the time interval of stimu- stimulus (stimulus presentation duration = 15 sec.) sub- lus presentation (15 sec.) and successively normalized. jects were invited to evaluate it, no longer viewing the The exact synchrony between the stimulus presentation image. During stimulus presentation subjects’ psycho- and the psychophysiological data acquisition was guaran- physiological responses were acquired. Furthermore, teed by the introduction of specific marker by a second ex- through a half-structured interview grid [47], the experi- perimenter, simultaneously to the onset of the stimulus menter invited the child to observe the stimulus set and presentation. A successive analysis of the video-taped regis- to describe the emotional feelings represented (“What is tration of the entire experimental session furnished other that facial expression?”). It was made another focal ques- checking of this synchrony. tion about the situation illustrated by the pictures (“What happened?”). Interviews were audio- and video- Analysis and results taped and scored verbatim. Three judges examined the Self-report measures verbal material encoded, in order to analyze specific con- The statistical analysis applied to self-report measures in- ceptual categories relatively to the correctness of the verbal cluded two steps: a first step, where log-linear analysis was labels (correct recognition). For the first level of analysis, a applied to correctness of emotional evaluation; a second correct answer included an explicit emotional label (such step, where repeated measure ANOVAs was applied. Type as “happiness”) or synonymous terms (“joy”) [47]. I errors associated with inhomogeneity of variance were controlled by decreasing the degrees of freedom using the Psychophysiological recording procedure Greenhouse-Geiser epsilon. SCR, HR and EMG data reduction A log-linear hierarchical analysis (saturated model) was Skin conductance response was measured continuously applied to subject labeling (correct labelling of emotion) with a constant voltage by Biofeedback (Biofeedback with factors correctness (correct/incorrect, 2) × condition 2000, version 7.01). Before the attaching electrodes, the (face/script, 2) × emotion (type, 7) variables (see Areni, skin was cleaned with alcohol and slightly abraded. SCR Ercolani, Scalisi) [51] (Table 1). In both conditions (emo- was recorded from two electrodes placed on the medial tional face and script), the emotions were largely recog- phalanges of the second and third finger of the non- nized by the subjects. In fact, they correctly labeled each dominant hand. The sample rate was of 400 Hz. SCRs emotion (with increased correct recognition more than in- elicited by each stimulus were scored manually and de- correct, χ (1, N = 26, 11.38, p ≤ .01) independently from fined as the largest increase in conductance in a time the type of task χ (1, N = 26, 1.21, p = .30). However, emo- window from 1,500 to 4,000 ms after stimulus presenta- tional type showed significant effect χ (1, N = 26, 8.03, tion (for the procedure see Amrhein, Muhlberger, Pauli, p ≤ .01). Post-hoc comparisons (standardized residuals) re- & Wiedermann) [48]. Trials with artifacts were excluded vealed that anger, fear, surprise and happiness were better from analysis, whereas trials with no detectable response recognized than disgust, sadness and neutral faces (all were scored as zero. The electrocardiogram was re- comparisons p ≤ .01). corded using electrodes on the left and right forearms. About the valence attribution, ANOVA showed a signifi- Inter-beat intervals of the HR were converted to heart cant emotion (F(6, 25) = 10.30, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .38) and emo- rate in beats per minute, to detect HR modulation dur- tion × condition effect (F(6, 25) = 9.14, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .38) ing viewing stimuli. Trials with artifacts were excluded (Table 1). Post-hoc comparisons (contrast analysis, with Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 7 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Table 1 Self-report measure of correctness (percentage), arousal and valence for each emotion and condition (face and script) Self-report rating Anger Fear Suprise Happiness Disgust Sadness Neutral Face M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) Correctness 89 1.34 91 2.87 84 1.89 80 2.09 69 1.98 65 1.56 64 1.22 Arousal 8.46 0.56 8.52 1.09 8.11 0.77 7.09 0.65 6.32 0.65 4.55 0.54 3.91 0.65 Valence 2.33 0.98 2.11 0.78 2.87 0.22 8.04 3.50 3.50 0.76 2.33 0.64 4.98 0.68 Script M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) M (sd) Correctness 86 2.33 88 3.98 85 2.87 77 2.09 74 1.98 67 2.09 60 2.09 Arousal 8.40 0.78 8.16 0.86 8.09 0.49 7.32 0.36 6.98 0.65 4.13 0.53 3.08 0.54 Valence 2.39 0.65 2.66 0.71 2.43 0.76 8.76 0.65 2.98 0.84 2.38 0.67 4.55 0.39 SAM rating nine-points (valence: 1 = high negative, 9 = high positive; arousal: 1 = low, 9 = high). Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons) showed analyses, anger, fear surprise and happiness revealed in- increased negative valence attribution for anger, fear, sur- creased HR in comparison with sadness, disgust and prise and sadness in comparison with happiness and neu- neutral stimuli. Moreover, disgust and sadness showed in- tral face, as well as happiness was considered as more creased HR than neutral faces (all comparisons p ≤ .01) positive than the other faces (all comparisons p ≤ .01). (Figure 3). Moreover, it was found a more negative attribution for disgust in the case of script more than face condition EMG F(1, 25) = 10.79, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .40). No other comparison Zygomatic EMG activity revealed significant differences as was statistically significant (all comparisons p ≥ .01). a function of emotion (F(6, 25) = 10.76, p ≤ .01, ɳ =.41). About the arousal attribution it was found a significant As shown by contrast effects, EMG activity was enhanced emotion (F(6, 25) = 10.15, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .39) and emotion × in response to positive stimuli in comparison with nega- condition effect (F(6, 25) = 9.56, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .37). Post- tive and neutral faces (all comparisons p ≤ .01). Contrarily, hoc comparisons showed increased arousal attribution for corrugator EMG activity was increased for negative emo- anger, fear, and surprise in comparison with happiness and tions, respectively anger, fear, and surprise in comparison sadness (all paired comparisons p ≤ .01). Moreover all the with happiness, disgust, sadness and neutral stimuli (all emotional faces were considered more arousing than comparisons p ≤ .01) (Figure 4 and 4b). neutral faces (all paired comparisons p ≥ .01). In addition, about the interaction effect, disgust was found as more Regression analysis between valence and arousal ratings arousing in the case of script than face condition F(1, 25) = and psychophysiological measures 8.09, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .33). No other comparison was statisti- Distinct stepwise multiple regression analyses were per- cally significant (all paired comparisons p ≥ .01). formed for each psychophysiological measure and emo- tion, considering the mean values for face and script Psychophysiological measures condition. Predictor variables were arousal and valence Successively, repeated measure ANOVAs, with two inde- ratings, and predicted variables were EMG, SCR, and HR pendent repeated (within-subjects) factors (condition × amplitude for each emotion. We report in Table 2 the emotion), were applied to each dependent measure cumulative multiple correlations between predictor (SCR; HR; EMG). and predicted variables (R), cumulative proportion of explained variance (R ), and the regression weights (β)for SCR the regression equation at each step of the multivariate ANOVA showed significant main effect of emotion (F(6, analysis. 25) = 9.56, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .37). As shown by contrast effects, As shown in Table 2, arousal and valence accounted anger, fear and surprise revealed increased SCR in com- for the amplitudes of zygomatic muscle for happiness, parison with happiness, sadness, disgust and neutral stim- whereas mainly arousal rating accounted for corrugator uli. Moreover, disgust and happiness showed higher SCR muscle for anger, fear and surprise. In addition, valence than neutral faces (all comparisons p ≤ .01) (Figure 2). and arousal explained the HR (increasing) more for anger, fear, surprise, and happiness. Finally, SCR in- HR creased response was mainly explained by the two pre- ANOVA showed significant main effect of emotion (F dictors for anger, fear, and surprise, and secondly for (6, 25) = 10.98, p ≤ .01, ɳ = .40). As shown by contrast disgust and happiness. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 8 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Figure 2 Mean (and SE) SCR modulations in response to different emotions. Discussion multimodal approach to study the specific domain of The present study produced three major results, that we facial expression of emotions whereas other previous summarize in the following points. First, there was a clear research did not specifically consider this emotional differentiation in children’ conceptualization (in terms of domain. Thirdly we considered the facial expression arousal and valence) as a function of different emotions; of emotion with and without an emotional script con- besides, the psychophysiological measures were highly text to study the contextual impact on face decoding. modulated by emotional types, and arousal and valence Therefore the situated perspective was adopted in the parameters accounted for the psychophysiological varia- present research. tions in relationship with different emotional patterns; fi- As hypothesized by the dimensional approach to emo- nally the presence of two different types of task – afacial tion [52,53], the representation of the emotional domain expression decoding and a script comprehension –in- was based on a conceptual space defined by two exes, duced significant differences in the subjective represen- arousal and hedonic value. In particular, the emotions tations only for a limited number (mainly disgust) of with a high arousal level and a negative value were bet- emotions. ter understood, if compared with other emotions. Specif- For the first time we used multimodal measures to ex- ically, the emotions of fear, anger and surprise were well plore the evaluation effect (based on valence and arousal) recognized and well labeled. A significant higher arous- on psychophysiological behavior taking into account ing power was attributed to them, and these emotions an ample range of emotions. Secondly we applied this were also considered as more negative. Moreover, they Figure 3 Mean (and SE) HR modulations in response to different emotions. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 9 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Figure 4 Mean (and SE) (a) zygomatic and (b) corrugator modulations in response to different emotions. were better recognized than the other emotions, specific- indicated by previous researches [19,53,54]. In fact, not ally in comparison with sadness and disgust. The positive only the hedonic category was systematically well repre- emotion of happiness was considered as less arousing and sented, but it was correctly identified in terms of negativity more positively valenced and it was well represented and or positivity. Moreover, arousal rating can be considered a recognized. On the contrary, disgust appears to be more predictive cue of the ability to classify and differentiate difficult to be identified, as well as sadness, and they both emotional correlates. Indeed, it was correctly used when were considered as less arousing and less negative. It should the child was able to attribute an adequate label to the be considered that in present research we opted to evaluate emotion, while when the child cannot conceptualize the the ability of subjects in spontaneously labelling the face/ emotion, the arousal value seems to be more ambiguous script they saw. As revealed, disgust and sadness were not (for example for disgust) or less relevant (sadness). immediately labelled, but in many cases they were correctly As regard to more negative and arousing emotions (fear, described (using a semi-structured interview) only after a anger and surprise) some recent study [55,56] revealed successive enquire. Therefore, the subjects showed a gen- high rates of recognition, that the researcher attributes to eral ability in recognizing the two emotions, although this the central adaptive function of these negative high arous- recognition was less immediate. It should be based on the ing emotions. Indeed, they has a main role for the individ- increased complexity to decode these emotions, because ual safeguard, both on an ontogenetic and a phylogenetic they are learned only successively in comparison with other level. They may be represented as a cue in order to detect primary emotions (such as anger and fear). unfavorable environmental conditions [19,54]. Accord- Therefore a first main result of the present study was ingly to the functional model [57,58], the emotional that the dichotomy pleasure/displeasure and high/low expressions represent a response to a particular event, sig- arousal was considered relevant by the subjects, confirm- nificant in terms of costs and benefits for people. Speci- ing a significant role in emotion representation, as fically, the expression of anger and fear represents the Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 10 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Table 2 Stepwise multiple regressions Anger Fear Surprise Happiness Sadness Disgust Neutral Predictor Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Arousal Valence Model 12121212121212 Zygomatic R 0.13 0.28 0.20 0.34 0.22 0.33 0.44 0.76 0.18 0.30 0.26 0.37 0.14 0.26 R2 0.01 0.07 0.04 0.09 0.04 0.11 0.19 0.57 0.03 0.09 0.06 0.03 0.01 0.06 β 0.20 0.21 0.24 0.23 0.15 0.11 0.34 0.28 0.15 0.18 0.23 0.26 0.23 0.20 std error 0.21 0.22 0.15 0.17 0.21 0.28 0.18 0.27 0.23 0.20 0.17 0.19 0.18 0.26 * * t 1.02 0.87 0.95 0.88 0.78 0.70 1.76 1.54 0.77 0.84 0.96 0.87 0.67 0.59 Corrugator R 0.49 0.64 0.1 = 51 0.69 0.35 0.52 0.24 0.41 0.18 0.29 0.22 0.40 0.18 0.29 R2 0.24 0.40 0.26 0.47 0.12 0.27 0.05 0.18 0.03 0.07 0.04 0.18 0.03 0.07 β 0.31 0.32 0.23 0.21 0.27 0.20 0.23 0.28 0.32 0.38 0.36 0.29 0.20 0.23 std error 0.25 0.20 0.20 0.18 0.18 0.19 0.33 0.34 0.30 0.28 0.22 0.27 0.17 0.20 * * * t 1.88 1.03 1.93 1.02 1.43 0.99 1.02 0.96 0.65 0.49 0.90 0.78 0.56 0.43 SCR R 0.43 0.69 0.54 0.72 0.38 0.62 0.32 0.59 0.21 0.38 0.29 0.51 0.17 0.29 R2 0.18 0.47 0.27 0.51 0.13 0.41 0.38 0.34 0.04 0.14 0.07 0.25 0.03 0.08 β 0.18 0.28 0.22 0.20 0.18 0.23 0.29 0.20 0.34 0.35 0.35 0.57 0.27 0.33 std error 0.11 0.17 0.28 0.26 0.20 0.21 0.21 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.26 0.23 0.22 0.29 * * * * * * * * * t 1.80 1.19 1.97 1.07 1.65 1.17 1.12 1.15 0.88 0.63 1.10 1.08 0.54 0.45 HR R 0.42 0.70 0.50 0.80 0.44 0.71 0.36 0.65 0.22 0.38 0.35 0.67 0.18 0.29 R2 0.17 0.49 0.25 0.64 0.19 0.50 0.14 0.42 0.04 0.14 0.12 0.36 0.03 0.08 β 0.17 0.20 0.20 0.22 0.28 0.27 0.29 0.27 0.19 0.34 0.25 0.22 0.39 0.28 std error 0.22 0.26 0.18 0.15 0.20 0.21 0.32 0.30 0.15 0.18 0.18 0.29 0.27 0.22 * * * * * * * * * * t 1.84 1.14 1.98 1.18 1.90 1.09 1.12 1.10 0.67 0.78 1.55 1.12 0.77 0.60 Arousal and valence as predictor variables, pshychophysiological measures as predicted variables. *= P≤.05. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 11 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 perception of a threat for the personal safeguard and, shown to vary in concomitance to the type of stimuli (dif- therefore, it requires a greater investment of attentional ferent emotions) and to the categorization process (the resources. The prominence of specific category of emotion subjective ratings). In fact, subject revealed a coherent (more negative and arousing) may suggest their central psychophysiological behavior in response to the emotions, role in emotion acquisition in comparison with other less independently from the condition (script or face). More- relevant (and less arousing) emotions in childhood. over, it was shown that SCR, HR and EMG were modu- The script condition introduces another main explica- lated as a function of the two main axes of valence and tive factor, regarding the emotional representation. In- arousal, as they were rated by the subjects. deed, the presence of a specific context generally does Firstly, SCR was shown to be increased when children not affect the correctness of the emotional label attribu- processed emotional faces and scripts rated as high tion, but it produces a discriminant effect exclusively for arousing and negative (anger, fear and surprise), whereas one emotion, that is disgust. Indeed in presence of a spe- it decreased in concomitance with stimuli rated as low cific situational context disgust was better characterized arousing (mainly sadness, disgust, and neutral patterns). in terms of arousal (more clearly arousing) and valence A similar profile was observed for HR, which showed (more negatively valenced). The presence of the inter- higher values in case of more positive, more negative actional features that characterize the emotional experi- and arousing stimuli. These results were in line with ence seems to introduce a facilitation element for emotion many other studies on adults, which postulated a signifi- comprehension, also producing a better description in the cant HR effect for more arousing and relevant stimuli emotion labeling (more correct recognition). It was pos- [33-36]. Moreover, the variation in term of arousing sible to state that the situational component constitutes a power (high vs. low) may determine the different impact facilitation cue, because it allowed the subjects to activate of the emotional cues, since perception of a high arousal a more complex conceptual representation, which takes generally induces a consistent HR increasing independ- into account the context in which the emotional event ently from the stimulus valence. These multiple parame- happens, the emotional causes, the logical order of actions ters and their combination were relevant to comprehend and their consequences [4]. the effect of emotions on psychophysiological data. It was noticeable, however, that the script enables a An important result was also observed for the facial wider and a more complete representation only in case EMG values. Indeed we found that children were highly of a this “secondary” emotion, which maximally has a responsive to facial stimuli and scripts, by adopting a benefit from the situated condition. It was observed that sort of “facial feedback” modality, since they used similar emotion recognition was allowed by the development facial configurations displayed by the pictures (consonant and the generalization of an emotional script, that is, a behavior) [60]. It was observed an increasing of mimic ac- child can recognize a specific emotion by verifying the tivity in case of some conditions: the different emotions presence of several prototypical elements that are ar- evoked distinct facial EMG response patterns, with in- ranged in precise causal and temporal sequences. These creased zygomatic muscle activity to positive patterns and scripts include not only facial expressions, but also the increased corrugator muscle activity to negative patterns, representation of causal factors, physical and social con- whereas both the corrugator and the zygomatic muscle re- text, several actions and their consequences, as well as sponse patterns were less pronounced in sadness, disgust the cognitive appraisal of the situation and the subjective and neutral condition. More generally, corrugator muscle experience [4]. Among these cues, the representation of activity was increased in response to more negative and the causal bonds, that is a set of causal events and of arousing stimuli, mainly for fear, anger, and surprise. In their behavioral consequences, has a remarkable signifi- addition, as revealed by regression analysis, arousal param- cance, because they constitute the more explicative ele- eter showed to explain in greater measure the corrugator modulation, whereas valence was less relevant to describe ments of the emotional experience [5,45,59]. To conclude, even if our study does not allow us to state the psychophysiological activity in response to negative, which of the two representational modalities (facial pattern highly arousing patterns. Contrarily, zygomatic muscle was modulated by both arousal and valence, with significant in- comprehension or script decoding) precedes the other, it was possible to observe that the situational correlates pro- creasing responsiveness related to happiness. vide a facilitation cue for the representation of emotional These variations may mark a psychophysiological re- sponse in case of a high arousing situations, since rele- correlate when a secondary emotion is represented. How- ever, no specific facilitation effect was observable in case of vant (with arousing power) stimuli seem to produce and “primary” emotions, which were well recognized and de- reinforce a coherent psychophysiological behavior. Con- scribed also in absence of contextual cues. trarily, subject reported a reduced arousing power for A relevant main result of the present research was sadness and partially for disgust, fact that may explain related to the psychophysiological measures which were the concomitant reduced EMG, SCR and HR values. Balconi et al. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014, 10:32 Page 12 of 14 http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/10/1/32 Thus, more arousing conditions showed a perfect conson- emotions may be central to people safeguard and they ance between subjective evaluation and psychophysio- may be priority developed by children. Arousal attribu- logical (both facial and autonomic) measures. Specifically, tion was considered as the most critical parameter to ex- anger, fear, surprise and happiness were rated as more plain the emotion recognition process and the emotionally involving. In parallel, the psychophysiological psychophysiological behavior. Contrarily, sadness and dis- behavior was responsive of this subjective self-evaluation, gust were less prominent in terms of both arousal and with an increased “positive” (zygomatic) facial expression valence, and in some cases they were also less correctly and a higher autonomic activity (increased HR) for happi- recognized. The contextual cues (script condition) may ness, from one hand; an increased “negative” (corrugator) allow to perform a better attribution, mainly for the emo- facial expression and higher arousal response (more SCR tion of disgust. In case of more complex emotional cue, and HR) for anger, fear and surprise, from the other. the context (script) contribution was relevant to complete However, more generally the modulation of psycho- the correct recognition. physiological measures was mainly related to arousing However, about the main limitations of the present power more than to valence, since independently from study, future research may explore more directly the intrin- the valence, the stimuli rated as high arousing (anger, sic effect induced by facial expression of emotion taking fear, surprise and happiness) were able to induce a more into account also gender effect. Indeed previous research significant and coherent emotional response. Regression found significant differences between male/female children analysis confirmed these results: mainly arousal attribu- in response to the emotional type. Secondly, the arousal ef- tion was significant to determine the psychophysiological fect we found in the present study should be better consid- variations, able to explain SCR, HR and facial response ered in relationship with different emotional valence taking modulation, since subjects “shared” the facial behavior into account a wider range of facial expressions which may and autonomic activity observed in both positive vs. nega- cover the ample orthogonal axes low/high arousal positive/ tive conditions. negative valence. Thirdly, due to the limited sample we Thus, in general psychophysiological measures may be used for the present research, it is crucial to integrate the interpreted as functional mechanism of “mirroring” the present data with an ampler sample size, in order to extend emotional condition displayed by the facial stimuli, where the present results to a general population. “sharing” similar emotional responses allows a direct form Competing interests of understanding and recognize emotion by a sort of simu- The authors declare that they have no competing interests. lation process. More specifically, contexts evaluated as Authors’ contributions emotionally involving and significant may ingenerate a MB planned the experiment, supervised the experiment; designed the consonant shared response by the observer, who firstly rec- statistical analysis, wrote the paper. RF realized the experiment; applied the ognizes and secondly “mimic” (by face and autonomic be- analysis; provided the editorial and reference assistance. MEV realized the experiment; applied the analysis; provided the editorial and reference havior) the somatic markers related to the experienced assistance. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. emotions [61]. Moreover, based on these results we may suggest that the gradual development of emotional compe- Received: 19 May 2014 Accepted: 15 September 2014 Published: 26 September 2014 tencies proceeds from more basic and simple emotions, which are primarily acquired by children, to more complex References and less prominent emotions, which might be less relevant 1. Balconi M, Lucchiari C: EEG correlates (event-related desynchronization) in terms of salience. Brain correlates may support this dif- of emotional face elaboration: A temporal analysis. 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Physiol Behav 2012, 105:298–304. doi:10.1186/1744-9081-10-32 Cite this article as: Balconi et al.: Multilevel analysis of facial expressions of emotion and script: self-report (arousal and valence) and psychophysiological correlates. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2014 10:32. Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color figure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar • Research which is freely available for redistribution Submit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submit
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Behavioral and Brain Functions – Springer Journals
Published: Sep 26, 2014