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Facial Mimicry of Spontaneous and Deliberate Duchenne and Non-Duchenne Smiles

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Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that Duchenne (D) smiles may not only occur as a sign of spontaneous enjoyment, but can also be deliberately posed. The aim of this paper was to investigate whether people mimic spontaneous and deliberate D and non-D smiles to a similar extent. Facial EMG responses were recorded while participants viewed short video-clips of each smile category which they had to judge with respect to valence, arousal, and genuineness. In line with previous research, valence and arousal ratings varied significantly as a function of smile type and elicitation condition. However, differences in facial reactions occurred only for smile type (i.e., D and non-D smiles). The findings have important implications for questions relating to the role of facial mimicry in expression understanding and suggest that mimicry may be essential in discriminating among various meanings of smiles.

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Notes

  1. Similarly as in Krumhuber and Manstead (2009) a trend was observed for other facial features to predict participants’ subjective ratings: valence (apex duration: β = .60, p = .03; asymmetry: β = −.36, p = .07), and arousal (apex duration: β = −.57, p = .07). Smile intensity was found to be a significant predictor for ratings of valence only (β = .49, p = .02). When controlling for the role of smile intensity, the relationship between smile type (D vs. non-D) and perceptions of valence however remained significant (r partial  = .40, p = .05).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG WE2930/2–2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK

    Eva G. Krumhuber

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Marcusstraße 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany

    Katja U. Likowski & Peter Weyers

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  1. Eva G. Krumhuber
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  2. Katja U. Likowski
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Correspondence to Peter Weyers.

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Krumhuber, E.G., Likowski, K.U. & Weyers, P. Facial Mimicry of Spontaneous and Deliberate Duchenne and Non-Duchenne Smiles. J Nonverbal Behav 38, 1–11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-013-0167-8

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