Reduced facial expression and social context in major depression: discrepancies between facial muscle activity and self-reported emotion
Introduction
Previous research in healthy subjects indicates that happy stimuli induce smiling whereas sad stimuli induce frowning (e.g. Schwartz et al., 1976, Cacioppo et al., 1986). However, facial expression is affected by the social context of the emotional situation, such as being alone (solitary situation) vs. being with others (social situation), and the role of the interaction partner in a social situation, i.e. strangers vs. friends. Smiling is increased during happy situations and frowning is increased during sad situations when being with others compared to being alone (e.g. Fridlund et al., 1992, Hess et al., 1995). These social context differences in facial expression are more pronounced when the interaction partner is a friend rather than a stranger (Buck et al., 1992, Hess et al., 1995). Therefore, facial expression may reflect both emotional and social functioning. This emotional and social functioning seems to be altered in depression.
Some studies indicate that the expression of emotion is reduced in depressed compared to non-depressed patients (e.g. Schwartz et al., 1976, Pogue-Geile and Harrow, 1984, Katsikitis and Pilowsky, 1991, Berenbaum and Oltmanns, 1992). Other studies show increased facial expression in depression (e.g. Greden et al., 1986). However, these studies used emotional stimuli without taking the social context into account. Facial expression and self-reported emotion were examined previously in depressed patients during social situations by Brown and colleagues. Depressed patients showed reduced smiling, although self-reported happiness was increased compared to that in non-depressed subjects (Brown et al., 1978) and subjects with schizophrenia (Brown et al., 1979). Discrepancies between facial expression and self-reported emotion in depressed subjects during social situations may indicate social disengagement (Ekman and Fridlund, 1987), i.e. the diminished motivation to express one’s emotion in the presence of others. Socially disengaged facial expression is not affected by social context and, therefore, should not differ between social (i.e. being with others) and solitary situations (being alone).
Social context differences, or the lack thereof (i.e. social disengagement), in facial expression may be associated with underlying changes in self-reported emotion. For instance, social context differences in facial expression may reflect social context differences in self-reported emotion. Social situations may be more emotional than solitary situations and, thus, may induce both more facial expression and more self-reported emotion (Buck, 1991). Similarly, a lack of social context differences (social disengagement) in facial expression of depressed patients may reflect a lack of social context differences in self-reported emotion. Adjusting social context differences in facial expression, or the lack thereof, for social context differences in self-reported emotion may clarify if smiling during happy situations and frowning during sad situations change as a function of self-reported emotion intensity or social context (Fridlund et al., 1992).
The purpose of this study was to investigate facial muscle activity and self-reported emotion of major depressed and non-depressed patients in response to the social context of happy and sad stimuli. On the basis of previous research, we hypothesize that depressed patients will show reduced and socially disengaged facial expression compared to non-depressed patients. Depressed patients should show reduced facial muscle activity during happy and sad stimuli compared to non-depressed patients. In addition, depressed patients should show a lack of social context differences compared to non-depressed patients in smiling during happy stimuli and frowning during sad stimuli.
Section snippets
Subjects
Eleven depressed subjects, age 21–37 (mean age±S.D.: 23.45±4.99), and 11 non-depressed control subjects, age 20–38 (mean=28.45±6.68), assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID; First et al., 1994), participated in the study. Although age was different between the groups, it did not correlate significantly with facial expression and self-reported emotion (rxy<0.36, P>0.10). Depressed patients showed higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (mean=19.91±5.07) than
Baseline
Depressed patients showed significantly reduced happiness compared to non-depressed control subjects (mean±S.D.: 2.91±2.98 vs. 5.82±2.75, t=2.38, P=0.027). No group difference was found for sadness during baseline.
Imagery
Happiness showed main effects for emotion (F=279.10, d.f.=1,20, P<0.001) and social context (F=13.50, d.f.=1,20, P=0.002). Happy imagery induced increased happiness ratings compared to sad imagery (mean=6.74±1.77 vs. mean=0.33±0.54). In addition, visualizing social situations induced
Discussion
The results revealed reduced facial muscle activity in major depressed patients compared to non-depressed patients, supporting previous studies on reduced facial expression in depression (Schwartz et al., 1976, Pogue-Geile and Harrow, 1984, Katsikitis and Pilowsky, 1991, Berenbaum and Oltmanns, 1992). Depressed patients showed reduced EMG-cheek and EMG-brow activity during happy and sad imagery as well as baseline compared to non-depressed patients. In contrast, no group differences were found
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Society (DAAD) to the first author and conducted in the Psychophysiology Laboratory of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry. This article was based in part on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Jean-Guido Gehricke to the Department of Psychology, Free University Berlin, Germany. The contributions of the following dissertation committee members are gratefully acknowledged: Rainer Bösel, Burkhard Gusy, Dieter Kleiber,
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Present address: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, 3340 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA 92697-7085, USA.