Effect of subliminal affective priming on facial reactions:Another evidence for appraisal theory.

International audienceAnother evidence for appraisal theoryRapid facial reactions (RFRs) evoked by facial emotional stimuli are usually explained by the motor mimicry model (the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions with those of another person). This model defines RFRs as nonaffective motor responses (Cacioppo et al., 1988). However, recent studies tend to support another model called appraisal theory to explain RFRs (Moody, 2007; Grèzes, 2013). In appraisal theory, emotions are elicited from our evaluations of situation that leads to specific emotional reaction (Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1991). This model defines RFRs as emotional reactions, resulting from emotional and cognitive processes (nonconscious evaluation of stimulus and context of perception). We present an experimental study that investigates the impact of emotional priming on RFRs. We used a subliminal affective priming task to unconsciously manipulate the emotional context. Participants were observing human facial expressions (KDEF database, Lundqvist et al. 1998) of joy, fear, anger, sadness and neutral faces. Each facial expression was preceded by a parafoveal subliminal (90ms) word: JOY, FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, and NEUTRAL. The subliminal word and facial expression were presented in congruent and incongruent conditions. Four muscles (frontalis, corrugator, zygomaticus and depressor) were recorded by facial electromyography (EMG). Results suggest that in the incongruent condition, the activation of the four muscles is less intense than in the congruent condition and the control condition (no-priming). For example, the corrugator was less activated when the subject observed an angry face either preceded by JOY, SADNESS or FEAR than when it was preceded by ANGER or no-priming. These results are consistent with others studies which indicate that RFRs can be modulated by subliminal priming (Seibt et al. 2013). Our data suggest that RFRs are modulated by emotional and cognitive processes induced by different emotional priming. These results are in line with an appraisal view of RFRs considered as emotional reactions, not only motor responses