The role of the Motor and Somatosensory cortices in facial mimicry

Abstract

Embodiment theories (Niedenthal, 2007) stipulate that observing emotional facial expressions can lead to facial mimicry, and that the feedback of this mimicry from the face to the somatosensory cortices, especially for the right hemisphere, plays a role in emotion recognition. This facial feedback is thought to influence the perception and recognition of facial expressions. Nevertheless, the exact interplay of face perception, facial mimicry generation and facial feedback processing, has not been clearly demonstrated yet. In this study, we aimed to observe the involvement of mimicry generation and mimicry feedback in emotion recognition. Activation of the motor or the somatosensory cortex was reduced through theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Participants evaluated emotional facial expressions, while their facial mimicry was monitored through electromyography (EMG). In a control condition, rTMS was applied over the vertex.