Auditory smiles trigger unconscious facial imitation

Arias, P., Belin, P. and Aucouturier, J.-J. (2018) Auditory smiles trigger unconscious facial imitation. Current Biology, 28(14), R782-R783. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.084) (PMID:30040936)

Abstract

Smiles, produced by the bilateral contraction of the zygomatic major muscles, are one of the most powerful expressions of positive affect and affiliation and also one of the earliest to develop [1]. The perception-action loop responsible for the fast and spontaneous imitation of a smile is considered a core component of social cognition [2]. In humans, social interaction is overwhelmingly vocal, and the visual cues of a smiling face co-occur with audible articulatory changes on the speaking voice [3]. Yet remarkably little is known about how such 'auditory smiles' are processed and reacted to. We have developed a voice transformation technique that selectively simulates the spectral signature of phonation with stretched lips and report here how we have used this technique to study facial reactions to smiled and non-smiled spoken sentences, finding that listeners' zygomatic muscles tracked auditory smile gestures even when they did not consciously detect them.

• Item Type: Articles (Letter)
• Additional Information: Work funded by ERC StG CREAM 335536 and ANR 2017 REFLETS (to J.-J.A.) and grants ANR-16-CONV-0002 (ILCB), ANR-11-LABX-0036 (BLRI), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University (A*MIDEX), and the Institute for Language, Communication and the Brain (to P.B.).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Belin, Professor Pascal
• Authors: Arias, P., Belin, P., and Aucouturier, J.-J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Current Biology
• Publisher: Elsevier (Cell Press)
• ISSN: 0960-9822
• ISSN (Online): 1879-0445
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Current Biology 28(14): R782-R783
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License