Abstract
It has been proposed that facial expression production originates in sensory regulation. Here we demonstrate that facial expressions of fear are configured to enhance sensory acquisition. A statistical model of expression appearance revealed that fear and disgust expressions have opposite shape and surface reflectance features. We hypothesized that this reflects a fundamental antagonism serving to augment versus diminish sensory exposure. In keeping with this hypothesis, when subjects posed expressions of fear, they had a subjectively larger visual field, faster eye movements during target localization and an increase in nasal volume and air velocity during inspiration. The opposite pattern was found for disgust. Fear may therefore work to enhance perception, whereas disgust dampens it. These convergent results provide support for the Darwinian hypothesis that facial expressions are not arbitrary configurations for social communication, but rather, expressions may have originated in altering the sensory interface with the physical world.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Pratt for comments on the eye-tracking data, F. Tam for technical assistance acquiring structural MRI scans and N. Sobel for comments on a prior draft. This work was supported by the Canada Research Chairs program and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant to A.K.A.
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J.M.S. and A.K.A. contributed equally to this work. J.M.S. created and analyzed the facial appearance model and associated behavioral data. J.M.S. and A.K.A. collected and analyzed the structural MRI data. A.C. and W.G. collected and analyzed the respiration and visual-field data and wrote parts of the corresponding Methods sections. D.H.L. and R.F. collected and analyzed the objective perimetry data, and J.M.S. and R.F. collected and analyzedthe eye-tracking data. J.M.S. and A.K.A. created the figures and wrote the final manuscript.
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Susskind, J., Lee, D., Cusi, A. et al. Expressing fear enhances sensory acquisition. Nat Neurosci 11, 843–850 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2138
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