Spontaneous Facial Mimicry Is Enhanced by the Goal of Inferring Emotional States: Evidence for Moderation of Automatic Mimicry by Higher Cognitive Processes

A number of studies have shown that individuals often spontaneously mimic the facial expressions of others, a tendency known as facial mimicry. This tendency has generally been considered a reflex-like automatic response, but several recent studies have shown that the degree of mimicry may be moderated by contextual information. However, the cognitive and motivational factors underlying the contextual moderation of facial mimicry require further empirical investigation. In this study, we present evidence that the degree to which participants spontaneously mimic a target\u27s facial expressions depends on whether participants are motivated to infer the target\u27s emotional state. In the first study we show that facial mimicry, assessed by facial electromyography, occurs more frequently when participants are specifically instructed to infer a target\u27s emotional state than when given no instruction. In the second study, we replicate this effect using the Facial Action Coding System to show that participants are more likely to mimic facial expressions of emotion when they are asked to infer the target\u27s emotional state, rather than make inferences about a physical trait unrelated to emotion. These results provide convergent evidence that the explicit goal of understanding a target\u27s emotional state affects the degree of facial mimicry shown by the perceiver, suggesting moderation of reflex-like motor activities by higher cognitive processes

Audiovisual semantic congruency effect with onomatopoeia

It has been reported that when a congruent natural sound precedes briefly presented visual stimuli, it promotes performance in psychophysics detection tasks. Onomatopoeias refer to words that phonetically mimic or suggest actual sounds. Onomatopoeic words are a form of sound symbolism and are frequently used in Japanese language. In this study, we examined whether the presentation of spoken Japanese onomatopoeia to Japanese native-speakers results in visual detection sensitivity changes. Results indicate that when onomatopoeias are presented 227 ms before a visual stimulus, they have a modulatory audiovisual effect. This effect is closer to the results observed with natural sounds than spoken words, with d’ being lower for onomatopoeias when compared with natural sounds. Such suggests that Japanese spoken onomatopoeias may be processed in a manner that is closer to natural sounds than spoken words and points to behavioral consequences of sound symbolism

<論文>Measuring individual differences of Self-as-We: Reliability and validity of revised version of the Self-as-We scale

We previously created an original scale to evaluate individual differences in Self-as-We, a holistic view of the self, based on the East Asian philosophy of self, which is distinct from the mainstream idea of self in Western philosophy (Watanabe, Murata, Takayama, Nakatani & Deguchi, 2020, in Japanese). One component of this scale, the Collective Action scale, has shown adequate reliability as well as usefulness in terms of its association with mental health (Murata, Watanabe & Deguchi, 2020, in Japanese). However, the response rate of “Neither agree nor disagree” was quite high, suggesting that it may have been difficult for survey participants to answer. Therefore, we developed a revised version of the Collective Action scale with modified wording to make it easier to answer and then tested its reliability and validity based on the responses of 1, 082 volunteers

Relationship between emotional linkages and perceived emotion during a joint task

Emotional physiological responses are altered not only by external events, but also by the emotions of the people in front of us. While these interpersonal emotional linkages are considered an important aspect of empathy, it is unclear how they relate to cognitive empathy, that is, how we perceive others’ emotions. We investigated the relationship between emotional linkage and emotional cognition in an experiment in which two participants estimate each other's emotions while their heart rates were measured during a thrilling joint task using a block game. We also collected data from the two observers because, in reality, in addition to understanding the emotions of the interacting partner, it is sometimes necessary to understand the emotions of a non-interacting person from a third-person perspective. The results suggest that, for game players, their own heart rate is related to perceived partner emotion, and for observers, the degree of heart rate synchrony between observers is related to perceived player emotion. Capturing emotional cognition in a joint task requires consideration of both individual emotion and interpersonal emotional linkages

Empathizing With a Dissimilar Other: The Role of Self-Other Distinction in Sympathetic Responding

Can we empathize effectively with someone who has a different sensitivity to physical events from ours? Or, are we susceptible to an egocentric bias in over-projection, which may lead us to under- or over-react in such cases? In this study, participants with normal visual and auditory capacity observed a video clip in which a sighted or blind target was exposed to a strong flash or high-frequency sound, while their physiological arousals during the observation were recorded. On average, participants displayed a differential arousal pattern to the aversive stimuli, according to the target's ability to perceive them. Degrees of arousal control were also correlated with dispositional differences in empathy. Participants who scored higher on the Empathic Concern subscale of Davis's IRI were better at controlling arousals in accordance with the target x Stimulus interaction. Our findings have important implications for helping disabled people while respecting their inherent dignity and individual autonomy

Bidirectional effect of emotional contagion for pain during face-to-face interaction

The automatic contagion of emotion is considered crucial in interpersonal communication. In face-to-face interac-tions, people could be both the receiver and sender of emotional content. Thus, contagion may have bidirectional influenceson the emotional states of individuals. However, many studies have mainly dealt with unidirectional contagion, such that theexpression of pain in a target entails a reaction of pain in the observer. In this study, we demonstrated bidirectional emotionalcontagion in the experience of thermal pain during interaction. Firstly, we showed that the physiological responses of dyadmembers were correlated with each other when they could interact compared to when they were impaired to see each other.Further, we demonstrated that individuals showed higher or lower physiological responses when their partners experiencedstronger or weaker stimuli respectively. Thus, people can develop similar physiological responses through interactions, and thiseffect seems to induce a change in the responsivity to stimuli

Interpersonal physiological linkage is related to excitement during a joint task

Interpersonal physiological linkage has been shown to play important roles in social activities. Studies have shown thatpeople tend to share heart rate (HR) dynamics through a joint collaborative task. In this study, we investigated whethershared HR dynamics (i.e., HR synchrony) would correlate with excitement during a joint task. Two participants played acollaborative block-stacking game (Jenga), alternating their roles as player and adviser, while their HRs being recorded.The participants evaluated their own excitement for each turn. Additional bystanders watched their playing to evaluatethe players excitement. The results showed that the players excitement increased with individual HR but also with HRsynchrony. HR synchrony also affected the evaluation of players excitement by the bystanders. These results suggestthat physiological linkage between cooperating individuals is related to the evaluation of excitement not only by playerthemselves but also by bystanders