The effects of repeated facial motor and affective matching on Identification and detection of static and dynamic facial expressions

Mimicry and imitation are thought to be important antecedents of embodied, face-based emotional perception. Simulationist models endorsing the “facial feedback hypothesis” state that proprioception from the face promote subjective feelings. However, subjective–affective- states also causally influence bodily signals. To gauge the differential contributions of facial feedback and affect, we investigated the effects of an emotional-imitation task on immediate emotion identification and a subsequent emotional change detection. Participants first performed an emotion identification task. They were presented with static faces and asked to adopt the same facial expression (Motor group) or try to feel the same emotion (Feel group). A control group passively observed the faces (Watch group). A forced-choice emotion identification followed each trial. After the imitation task, all participants performed a change detection task. First, faces gradually evolved from neutral to full-blown expressions, and participants pressed a button at the moment they perceived a change. In a second bloc, the same videos were reversed. Participants pressed a button when they thought the face had become neutral again. The main results demonstrated that face imitation affected emotion identification immediately. The Feel intervention affected performance only at a subsequent detection task. Moreover, Motor matching facilitated performance in the anger condition but affected the processing of Happiness. Affective Matching, however, affected performance in the Anger condition alone. We surmise that both interventions were task- and time-specific. We argue that voluntary facial imitation and affective matching differentially affect Anger processing, possibly because of emotion (down) regulation promoted by Facial Feedback and Simulation.