Emotion Regulation in High and Low Socially Anxious Individuals : An Experimental Study Investigating Emotional Mimicry, Emotion Recognition, and Self-Reported Emotion Regulation

Emotion recognition and emotional mimicry are both highly important for social interactions. The authors investigated in a subclinical sample if High Socially Anxious (HSA) individuals show an altered pattern of emotional mimicry, and exhibit difficulties in emotion recognition compared to Low Socially Anxious (LSA) individuals. Twenty-one HSA and 20 LSA participants were exposed to 60 dynamic facial expressions that gradually changed from neutral to full-intensity expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, or fear. Emotional mimicry was assessed using facial electromyography. Emotion recognition was measured after every picture and emotion regulation was measured by self-report. Compared to when participants saw neutral facial expressions, participants demonstrated significantly higher musculus (m.) corrugator supercilii activity of anger expressions, m. frontalis medialis activity of fear and sad expressions, m. levator labii activity of disgust, and m. zygomaticus major activity of happy expressions. HSA participants had a significantly higher m. levator labii activity of disgust expressions than LSA participants. Moreover, HSA participants showed a tendency toward impaired emotion recognition of negative facial expressions (p = 0.07). Results confirm emotion-specific emotional mimicry patterns for all five emotions. No differences for emotional mimicry between the two groups were found, except for subtle alterations in disgust in HSA individuals.