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Varieties of Emotional Experience during Voluntary Emotional Facial Expressions
Author(s) -
COAN JAMES A.,
ALLEN JOHN J. B.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1280.034
Subject(s) - center (category theory) , library science , psychology , computer science , chemistry , crystallography
Emotion theorists have argued that emotions are patterns of responses that imply coherence between behavioral, physiological, and phenomenological systems, 1 including coherence between physiology and emotional expression 2 and the modulation of emotional expression and subjective experience by trait physiological dispositions. 3 A physiological measure sensitive to emotion—frontal EEG asymmetry—has been hypothesized to reflect approach and withdrawal propensities, 4 with relatively greater left frontal activity indexing a propensity for approach-related behavior, and relatively less left frontal activity indexing a propensity for withdrawal-related behavior. By this scheme, disgust, fear, and sadness—all thought to be withdrawal-related emotions—should show relatively less left frontal activity; while the putative approach-related emotions of anger and joy should show relatively greater left frontal activity. 5 Using voluntary posed emotional facial expressions depicting anger, disgust, fear, joy and sadness, this study examined: (1) the coherence between physiological change and subjective reports of emotional experience, and (2) the modulation of subjective reports of emotional experience by resting physiology. The modulation hypothesis states that individuals with relatively greater left frontal activity at rest will be more likely to report approach emotions during this task and less likely to report withdrawal emotions during this task. This hypothesis states that trait levels of CNS activity will be related to