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Facial reactions to happy and angry facial expressions: Evidence for right hemisphere dominance
Author(s) -
Dimberg Ulf,
Petterson Maria
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/1469-8986.3750693
Subject(s) - psychology , facial expression , facial muscles , facial electromyography , lateralization of brain function , emotional expression , laterality , dominance (genetics) , audiology , right hemisphere , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , communication , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , gene
Previous research on asymmetric effects of emotional expression and brain‐hemispheric asymmetry has supported opposing theories of hemispheric dominance in the control of emotional reactions. In the present study, 32 subjects were exposed to pictures of happy and angry facial stimuli while facial electromyographic (EMG) activity from the z ygomatic major and the corrugator supercilii muscle regions was detected from the left and right sides of the face. The subjects reacted spontaneously and rapidly with larger zygomatic EMG activity to happy facial stimuli and larger corrugator EMG activity to angry stimuli. These distinct reactions were significantly larger on the left side of the face. It is concluded that the present results support the hypothesis that the right brain hemisphere is predominantly involved in the control of spontaneously evoked emotional reactions.