ArticleScientific reports2019
The effects of Botulinum toxin on the detection of gradual changes in facial emotion.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of sensory processing sensitivity on subtle dynamic facial expression recognition and metacognitive awareness.Psychological research · 2026Article
- A Psychological Guide to Lower Face Botulinum Toxin Injections: Baseline Emotional Functions of Facial Expressions.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Review
- Restricting facial mimicry does not impair emotion recognition or influence the evaluation of human affect vocalizations and instrumental sounds.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Botulinum Toxin: An Unconventional Tool for the Treatment of Depression?Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Botulinum Toxin A Therapy for Glabellar Lines Improves Emotional States: Evaluation of 47 Cases without Mental Disorders.Journal of plastic and reconstructive surgery · 2025Article
- Depression Treatment: Is There a Role for Botulinum Toxin Type A?Microorganisms · 2024Review
- On the Role of Sensorimotor Experience in Facial Expression Perception.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Review
- Restricting movements of lower face leaves recognition of emotional vocalizations intact but introduces a valence positivity bias.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Treatment of Depression with Botulinum Toxin.Toxins · 2022Review
- Simulated proximity enhances perceptual and physiological responses to emotional facial expressions.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Efficacy of Facial Exercises in Facial Expression Categorization in Schizophrenia.Brain sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
When we feel sad or depressed, our face invariably "drops". Conversely, when we try to cheer someone up, we might tell them "keep your smile up", so presupposing that modifying the configuration of their facial muscles will enhance their mood. A crucial assumption that underpins this hypothesis is that mental states are shaped by information originating from the peripheral neuromotor system - a view operationalised as the Facial Feedback Hypothesis. We used botulinum toxin (BoNT-A) injected over the frown area to temporarily paralyse muscles necessary to express anger. Using a pre-post treatment design, we presented participants with gradually changing videos of a face morphing from neutral to full-blown expressions of either anger or happiness and asked them to press a button as soon as they had detected any change in the display. Results indicate that while all participants (control and BoNT-A) improved their reaction times from pre-test to post-test, the BoNT-A group did not when detecting anger in the post-test. We surmise that frown paralysis disadvantaged participants in their ability to improve the detection of anger. Our finding suggests that facial feedback causally affects perceptual awareness of changes in emotion, as well as people's ability to use perceptual information to learn.
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