The temporal dynamics of emotion-antecedent appraisal and the nature of two-component synchronization

Scherer's Component Process Model proposes a comprehensive architecture of the underlying mechanisms of emotion elicitation and differentiation. This thesis examined the plausibility of the following predictions: (a) the appraisal process is sequential, (b) appraisal results drive facial expressions, (c) the appraisal and the facial expression components become synchronized during the response unfolding, and (d) self-beliefs bias the appraisal process. In two experiments, the appraisal of goal conduciveness (motivational valence appraisal), control (general control appraisal), and power (personal ability appraisal) were manipulated in a gambling task. Participants' brain activity (event-related potentials, ERPs) and facial muscle activity (electromyography, EMG, brow and cheek regions) were concurrently recorded. The findings are largely consistent with the predictions: (a) sequential appraisal check effects were repeatedly found in the ERPs. (b) The findings suggest that appraisal results drove facial expressions, which indirectly supports (c) the prediction of emotion component synchronization, and (d) biased self-beliefs affected the appraisal process

Appraisals Generate Specific Configurations of Facial Muscle Movements in a Gambling Task: Evidence for the Component Process Model of Emotion

Scherer's Component Process Model provides a theoretical framework for research on the production mechanism of emotion and facial emotional expression. The model predicts that appraisal results drive facial expressions, which unfold sequentially and cumulatively over time. In two experiments, we examined facial muscle activity changes (via facial electromyography recordings over the corrugator, cheek, and frontalis regions) in response to events in a gambling task. These events were experimentally manipulated feedback stimuli which presented simultaneous information directly affecting goal conduciveness (gambling outcome: win, loss, or break-even) and power appraisals (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as control appraisal (Experiment 2). We repeatedly found main effects of goal conduciveness (starting ~600 ms), and power appraisals (starting ~800 ms after feedback onset). Control appraisal main effects were inconclusive. Interaction effects of goal conduciveness and power appraisals were obtained in both experiments (Experiment 1: over the corrugator and cheek regions; Experiment 2: over the frontalis region) suggesting amplified goal conduciveness effects when power was high in contrast to invariant goal conduciveness effects when power was low. Also an interaction of goal conduciveness and control appraisals was found over the cheek region, showing differential goal conduciveness effects when control was high and invariant effects when control was low. These interaction effects suggest that the appraisal of having sufficient control or power affects facial responses towards gambling outcomes. The result pattern suggests that corrugator and frontalis regions are primarily related to cognitive operations that process motivational pertinence, whereas the cheek region would be more influenced by coping implications. Our results provide first evidence demonstrating that cognitive-evaluative mechanisms related to goal conduciveness, control, and power appraisals affect facial expressions dynamically over time, immediately after an event is perceived. In addition, our results provide further indications for the chronography of appraisal-driven facial movements and the underlying cognitive processes

Coherence explored between emotion components: Evidence from event-related potentials and facial electromyography

Componential theories assume that emotion episodes consist of emergent and dynamic response changes to relevant events in different components, such as appraisal, physiology, motivation, expression, and subjective feeling. In particular, Scherer's Component Process Model hypothesizes that subjective feeling emerges when the synchronization (or coherence) of appraisal-driven changes between emotion components has reached a critical threshold. We examined the prerequisite of this synchronization hypothesis for appraisal-driven response changes in facial expression. The appraisal process was manipulated by using feedback stimuli, presented in a gambling task. Participants' responses to the feedback were investigated in concurrently recorded brain activity related to appraisal (event-related potentials, ERP) and facial muscle activity (electromyography, EMG). Using principal component analysis, the prediction of appraisal-driven response changes in facial EMG was examined. Results support this prediction: early cognitive processes (related to the feedback-related negativity) seem to primarily affect the upper face, whereas processes that modulate P300 amplitudes tend to predominantly drive cheek region responses