Effects of Manipulating Facial Expressions of the Viewer on how they Perceive Emotions

This study will examine whether manipulating the facial expressions of the viewer will have an effect on how intensely they perceive emotions in face and non-face photos. Borgomaneri S. et al., (2020) have found that blocking mimicry on the lower face can disrupt facial recognition of expressions conveyed by others facial emotions. Yu and Kitayama (2019) found that being made to frown resulted in lower pleasantness ratings of non-face photos, suggesting facial actions directly impact the emotional neural responses. This study will consist of participants being asked to hold a pencil with either their teeth, making them smile, in their lips, inhibiting them from smiling, or holding the pencil in their hand, so their facial expression is not affected. The participant will be shown a face photo of a person showing different facial expressions (happy, sad, angry) for each image. The participant will then see non-face photos which will consist of photos (positive and negative) that are not exposing the person\u27s face. Participants will have to rate how much of each emotion (happy, sad, angry) the person shown in the image is showing. The rating will be done with the use of a Likert scale which will range from 1 to 5, with 1 being not showing that certain emotion to 5 being strongly showing that certain emotion. Participants will also rate how positive or negative the non-face photos appear to be. Each of the non-face photos has been professionally scored by the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for positive or negative emotional valence (Lang, et al., 2008). Research has shown that forcing a smile will help make a person feel happy or perceive stimuli more positively, suggesting that there is a connection between the zygomatic muscles and areas of the brain that are involved in feeling happiness or perceiving stimuli in a positive context. Holding the pencil in their lips will inhibit the zygomatic muscles from smiling, so participants will perceive positive stimuli as less positive than if they were to be smiling or not having to make a certain facial expression