FACIAL REACTIONS TO DIFFERENT EMOTIONALLY RELEVANT STIMULI

Facial EMG activity was measured from the Corrugator supercilii and th e Zygomatic major muscle regions while 48 subjects were exposed to pic tures of angry and happy facial expressions, snakes and flowers as wel l as low and high preference nature scenes. The valency perspective pr edicted that facial reactions should be related to the intensity of th e positive and the negative valency of stimuli. The mimicking behavior approach predicted that facial reactions should only be reflected as a mimicking response to the facial stimuli, whereas the evolutionary/b iological perspective predicted that the most clearcut positive and ne gative facial reactions should be evoked by facial stimuli and by snak es. In support of the latter perspective, the present results showed t hat angry faces and snakes evoked the most distinct Corrugator superci lii muscle response, whereas happy faces evoked the largest Zygomatic major muscle response.