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Facial reactions to facial expressions in subjects high and low in public speaking fear
Author(s) -
DIMBERG ULF,
CHRISTMANSON LEIF
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1991.tb00875.x
Subject(s) - psychology , facial electromyography , facial expression , facial muscles , anger , audiology , clinical psychology , communication , medicine
This study investigated whether subjects high and low in public speaking fear react with different facial electromyographic (EMG) activities when exposed to negative and positive social stimuli. A High‐fear and Low‐fear group were selected by help of a questionnaire and were exposed to slides of angry and happy faces while facial‐EMG from the corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions were measured. The subjects also rated the stimuli on different emotional dimensions. Consistent with earlier research it was found that Low fear subjects reacted with increased corrugator activity to angry faces and increased zygomatic activity to happy faces. The High fear group, on the other hand, did not distinguish between angry and happy faces. Rating data indicated that the High fear group perceived angry faces as being emotionally more negative. The present results are consistent with earlier studies, indicating that the facial‐EMG technique is sensitive to detect differential responding among clinical interesting groups, such as people suffering from social fears.