We examined asymmetry in posed facial expression of emotions: happy and sad. Hemifacial composite photographs, left-left and right-right, were prepared, and subjects rated these for intensity of expressed emotion. Overall, left-left composites were judged to have expressed emotions relatively more intensely than the right-right composites. The significant Sex x Emotion interaction revealed that female expressors were judged as more expressive than male expressors in expressing sad facial emotion. Sex difference in expression of happy facial emotion was not significant.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Borod, J. C. (1992). Interhemispheric and intrahemispheric control of emotion: A focus on unilateral brain damage. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 339-348.
2.
Borod, J. C. (1993). Cerebral mechanisms underlying facial, prosodic, and lexial emotional expression: A review of neuropsychological studies and methodological issues. Neuropsychologia, 7,445-463.
3.
Borod, J. C. , & Caron, H. S. (1980). Facedness and emotion related to lateral dominance, sex and expression type. Neuropsychologia, 18, 237-242.
4.
Borod, J. C. , Kent, J., Koff, E., Martin, C., & Alpert, M. (1988). Facial asymmetry while posing positive and negative emotions: Support for the right hemisphere hypothesis. Neuropsychologia, 26,759-764.
5.
Borod, J. C. , & Koff, E. (1984). Asymmetries in affective facial expression: Behavior and anatomy. In N. Fox & R. Davidson (Eds.), The psychobiology of affective development (pp. 293-323). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
Borod, J. C. , & Koff, E. (1989). The neuropsychology of emotion: Evidence from normal, neurological, and psychiatric population. In E. Perecman (Ed.), Integrating theory and practice in clinical neuropsychology (pp. 175-215). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
7.
Borod, J. C. , & Koff, E. (1990). Lateralization for facial emotional behavior: A methodological perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 25, 157-177.
8.
Borod, J. C. , Koff, E., Perlman-Lorch, M., & Nicholas, M. (1986). Expression and perception of facial emotion in brain-damaged patients. Neuropsychologia, 24, 169-180.
9.
Borod, J. C. , Koff, E., & White, B. (1983). Facial asymmetry in posed and spontaneous expressions of emotion. Brain and Cognition, 2, 165-175.
10.
Campbell, R. (1978). Asymmetries in interpreting and expressing a posed facial expression. Cortex, 14, 327-342.
11.
Campbell, R. (1986). Asymmetries of facial action: Some facts and fancies of normal face movement. In R. Bruyer (Ed.), The neuropsychology offacial perception andfacial expression (pp. 247-267). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
De Jong, R. N. (1979). The neurologic examination (4th ed.). Hagerstown, MD: Harper & Row.
13.
Ehrlichman, H. (1987). Hemispheric asymmetry and positive-negative affect. In D. Ottoson (Ed.), Duality and unity of the brain (pp. 194-206). London: MacMillan.
14.
Gelder, R. S. , & Borod, J. C. (1990). Neurobiological and cultural aspects of facial asymmetry. Journal of Communication Disorder, 23, 273-286.
15.
Gotlib, H. W. , & Mayer, J. P. (1986). Factor analysis of the multiple affect adjective checklist: A separation of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1161-1165.
16.
Kuypers, H.G.J.M. (1958). Corticobulbar connections to the pons and lower brain stem in man. Brain, 81, 364-390.
17.
Leventhal, H. L. , & Tomarken, A. J. (1986). Emotion: Today's problems. Annual Review of Psychology, 37, 565-610.
18.
Mandal, M. K. (1987). Decoding of facial emotions, in terms of expressiveness, by schizophrenics and depressives. Psychiatry, 50, 371-376.
19.
Moreno, C. , Borod, J. C., Welkowitz, J., & Alpert, M. (1990). Lateralization for the expression and perception of facial emotion as a function of age. Neuropsychologia, 28, 199-209.
20.
Natale, M. , Gur, R. E., & Gur, R. C. (1983). Hemispheric asymmetries in processing emotional expression. Neuropsychologia, 21, 555-565.
21.
Oldfield, R. C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9,97-114.
22.
Rhodes, G. , & Lynskey, M. (1989). Emotion in resting face: Taking sides. A reply to McGee & Skinner (1987). British Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 273-278.
23.
Russell, J. R. , & Fehr, B. (1987). Relativity in the perception of emotion in facial expressions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 223-237.
24.
Sackeim, H. A. , Greenberg, M., Weinman, A., Gur, R. C., Hungerbuhler, J., & Geschwind, N. (1982). Functional brain asymmetry in the expression of positive and negative emotions: Lateralization of insult in cases of uncontrollable emotion outbursts. Archives of Neurology, 19, 210-218.
25.
Sackeim, H. A. , & Gur, R. C. (1978). Lateral asymmetry in intensity of emotional expression. Nuropsychologia, 16,473-481.
26.
Skinner, M. , & Mullen, B. (1991). Facial asymmetry in emotional expression: A meta-analysis of research. British Journal of Psychology, 30, 113-124.
27.
Tucker, D. M. (1981). Lateral brain function, emotion, and conceptualization. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 19-46.
