ArticleJournal of neurodevelopmental disorders2019
Children with facial paralysis due to Moebius syndrome exhibit reduced autonomic modulation during emotion processing.
Article in Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effortless facial expression recognition without motor simulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- From recognition to expression: extending cardiovascular emotional dampening to facial expressions under elevated blood pressure.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- On the Role of Sensorimotor Experience in Facial Expression Perception.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Review
- Sensorimotor regulation of facial expression - An untouched frontier.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Review
- Inability to move one's face dampens facial expression perception.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Article
- Selective zygomaticus muscle activation by ball electrodes in synkinetically reinnervated patients after facial paralysis.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Facial Expression Time Processing in Typical Development and in Patients with Congenital Facial Palsy.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Altering Facial Movements Abolishes Neural Mirroring of Facial Expressions.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Post-surgery Rehabilitative Intervention Based on Imitation Therapy and Mouth-Hand Motor Synergies Provides Better Outcomes in Smile Production in Children and Adults With Long Term Facial Paralysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- A New Neurorehabilitative Postsurgery Intervention for Facial Palsy Based on Smile Observation and Hand-Mouth Motor Synergies.Neural plasticity · 2021Article
- The Pacified Face: Early Embodiment Processes and the Use of Dummies.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFacial mimicry is crucial in the recognition of others' emotional state. Thus, the observation of others' facial expressions activates the same neural representation of that affective state in the observer, along with related autonomic and somatic responses. What happens, therefore, when someone cannot mimic others' facial expressions?
methodsWe investigated whether psychophysiological emotional responses to others' facial expressions were impaired in 13 children (9 years) with Moebius syndrome (MBS), an extremely rare neurological disorder (1/250,000 live births) characterized by congenital facial paralysis. We inspected autonomic responses and vagal regulation through facial cutaneous thermal variations and by the computation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). These parameters provide measures of emotional arousal and show the autonomic adaptation to others' social cues. Physiological responses in children with MBS were recorded during dynamic facial expression observation and were compared to those of a control group (16 non-affected children, 9 years).
resultsThere were significant group effects on thermal patterns and RSA, with lower values in children with MBS. We also observed a mild deficit in emotion recognition in these patients.
conclusionResults support "embodied" theory, whereby the congenital inability to produce facial expressions induces alterations in the processing of facial expression of emotions. Such alterations may constitute a risk for emotion dysregulation.
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