Is Facial Mimicry Related to Empathy Levels in Children?

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dc.contributor.advisorMorales, Santiago
dc.contributor.advisorFox, Nathan
dc.contributor.authorTalwar, Reshmi
dc.contributor.authorPan, Alvina
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-25T01:48:21Z
dc.date.available2020-04-25T01:48:21Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractFacial mimicry is thought to be involved in several socioemotional skills, including empathy. In this project, we investigated the presence of facial mimicry and its relationship to empathy in children. We collected electromyographic (EMG) activity using an EEG net as participants observed fearful and happy facial expressions. Additionally, Participants’ caregivers completed the Griffin Empathy Questionnaire (Dadds et al., 2008). First, we confirmed that our EEG facial electrodes captured facial muscle (EMG) activity and differentiated between executed happy and fearful facial expressions (p<.001). As hypothesized, we found greater EMG activity in the Zygomaticus Major cluster for happy, compared to fearful expressions (p<.001). As expected, this pattern was reversed for the Corrugator Supercilii cluster (p<.001). Second, we found evidence for facial mimicry while participants observed various expressions (p=.04). However, facial mimicry was only significant for the Corrugator Supercilii cluster (p=.02) and not the Zygomaticus Major, suggesting that evidence for facial mimicry was exclusive to observing fearful facial expressions. Finally, we found that the extent of facial mimicry was not related to levels of empathy, r(45)=.23, p=.12. Together, our results provide evidence for facial mimicry in childhood. However, we do not provide support for the relation between facial mimicry and empathy. Finally, our findings suggest that EMG activity can be successfully captured using EEG equipment, providing future studies a way to directly examine the relation between facial mimicry and the mirror neuron system.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/yzz4-rf8o
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/25861
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtMaryland Center for Undergraduate Research
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md)
dc.subjectPsychologyen_US
dc.subjectUMD
dc.subjectMirror Neuron
dc.subjectchild psychology
dc.subjectfacial mimicry
dc.subjectEEG
dc.titleIs Facial Mimicry Related to Empathy Levels in Children?en_US
dc.typePresentationen_US

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