The role of oxytocin in the facial mimicry of affiliative vs. non-affiliative emotions.
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Authors
Pavarini, Gabriela
Sun, Rui
Mahmoud, Marwa
Fischer, Agneta
Deakin, Julia
Kogan, Aleksandr
Vuillier, Laura
Publication Date
2019-11Journal Title
Psychoneuroendocrinology
ISSN
0306-4530
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
109
Pages
104377
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Pavarini, G., Sun, R., Mahmoud, M., Cross, I., Schnall, S., Fischer, A., Deakin, J., et al. (2019). The role of oxytocin in the facial mimicry of affiliative vs. non-affiliative emotions.. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 109 104377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104377
Abstract
The present paper builds upon a growing body of work documenting oxytocin's role in social functioning, to test whether this hormone facilitates spontaneous mimicry of others' emotional expressions. In a double-blind, randomized trial, adult Caucasian males (n = 145) received a nasal spray of either oxytocin or placebo before completing a facial mimicry task. Facial expressions were coded using automated face analysis. Oxytocin increased mimicry of facial features of sadness (lips and chin, but not areas around the eyes), an affiliative reaction that facilitates social bonding. Oxytocin also increased mimicry of happiness, but only for individuals who expressed low levels of happiness in response to neutral faces. Overall, participants did not reliably mimic expressions of fear and anger, echoing recent theoretical accounts of emotional mimicry as dependent on the social context. In sum, our findings suggest that oxytocin facilitates emotional mimicry in ways that are conducive to affiliation, pointing to a possible pathway through which oxytocin promotes social bonding.
Keywords
Facial Muscles, Humans, Oxytocin, Facial Expression, Administration, Intranasal, Double-Blind Method, Emotions, Anger, Fear, Happiness, Social Perception, Adult, Male, Young Adult, Facial Recognition
Sponsorship
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K008331/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104377
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/294645
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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