Séminaire – Martin Krippl

Titre The how, when and what of facial movements: Facial emotion expression and interpretation.
Dr Martin Krippl, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

Résumé Facial movements (Action Units, AUs) are important signs of emotions. Important questions are: What is the brain basis of the sign production? How are the signs interpreted? Which of these signs are produced in emotion induction of fear and sadness and which psychophysiological reactions co-occur there? I will answer these questions partly in this talk mainly with a reference to emotion theories, especially basic emotion theory (e.g. Ekman, 1992). First, I will show by fMRI-data that the production of AUs are organized in the primary motor area of the frontal cortex in a quasi-somatotopic order. Second, I will show data on the interpretation of AU-combinations which are seen as fear expressions in EMFACS (Friesen & Ekman, 1983). Interestingly many of these AU-combinations are interpreted as disgust or sadness. This questions usual assumptions of Ekman’s basic emotion theory (Ekman, 1992). Third, in another study I question Ekman’s basic emotion theory, especially its universality assumption of facial emotion expressions. We compared German participants with an indigenous group in Uganda, the Karamoja. The Karamoja showed strongly reduced recognition rates of the picture stimuli. Several universality criteria were tested, but in most emotions and most criteria, they were not fulfilled. Fourth, I show results of an emotion induction study, where fear and sadness were induced by film parts. Facial expressions had practically no coherence with self-reports of fear and sadness. Psychophysiological data (EDA, IBI, finger temperature, neck EMG, breathing) are also reported as well as their coherence with self-report of fear and sadness. Fifth, I will present data on the emotion expression of elite high jumpers after clearing or missing their maximal height. We could demonstrate that triumph as first established by Hwang & Matsumoto (2012), is not only an emotion category, which is recognized, but also which happens in meaningful situations, also in sport types with no direct fight between competitors. Theoretical implications of all the data are discussed referring to basic emotion theory, dialect theory and other rivaling theories of emotion.