title: Facial reactions to fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli.
abstract: Earlier research has shown that subjects exposed to different facial expressions react spontaneously with different facial electromyographic (EMG) response patterns. In the present study subjects were exposed to fear-relevant (snakes/spiders) and fear-irrelevant (flowers/mushrooms) stimuli, while facial EMG activity, skin conductance responses (SCRs) and heart rate (HR) were measured. The stimuli evoked different response patterns. Fear-relevant stimuli elicited increased corrugator muscle activity, whereas fear-irrelevant stimuli evoked increased zygomatic muscle activity. Fear-relevant stimuli also evoked HR deceleration and larger SCR magnitudes. The present data are consistent with the theory that the face constitutes an emotional 'readout/output-system'.
mesh_terms: D004576:Electromyography; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans