Wataru Sato*
Akie Saito- Psychological Process Research Team, Guardian Robot Project, RIKEN, Kyoto, Japan
1 Introduction
Facial expressions play a critical role in intra-individual emotional functions (Finzi and Rosenthal, 2016) as well as inter-individual social functions (Keltner and Kring, 1998). Facial expressions have been proposed to be more important in late adulthood, given the increased value placed on intimate social relationships (Carstensen, 2006, 2021; Carstensen et al., 1999). In studies examining changes in emotional functioning over the course of adulthood, older adults' facial expressions in response to emotional stimuli have mainly been examined through comparison with those of young adults (e.g., Levenson et al., 1991).
Consistent with the notion of emotional functions of facial expressions, several studies in young adults have reported that the production of facial expressions showed coherence with the subjective experience of emotional feeling (e.g., Mauss et al., 2005; Evers et al., 2014; Sato et al., 2020, 2021; Sato and Kochiyama, 2022). For example, a study measured dynamic ratings of subjective emotional valence (i.e., hedonic tone ranting from positive to negative; Barrett, 2006) and facial electromyography (EMG) activity of the corrugator supercilii (i.e., brow lowering muscle) and zygomatic major (i.e., lip corner-pulling muscle) while participants watched emotional films (Sato et al., 2020). The results showed that the EMG activity of the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles was negatively and positively associated with the dynamic valence ratings, respectively. These findings are theoretically important because they empirically support the long-lasting idea that subjective emotional experience depends on the perception of bodily responses (James, 1884; Friedman, 2010; Lang, 1994). Furthermore, this issue could be practically important, because a previous study showed that the coherence between subjective emotional experience and bodily responses to emotional stimuli is associated with psychological wellbeing (Brown et al., 2020).
However, the coherence between emotional experience and facial expressions has not been fully examined in older adults. This issue could be interesting because several studies have suggested that older, compared with young, adults have improved emotional wellbeing (Carstensen, 2006, 2021; Charles, 2010; Carstensen et al., 1999; Charles and Piazza, 2023). One may expect that older adults would have stronger subjective–facial emotional coherence than young adults. This paper reviews the research conducted to date on this topic and describes our speculative hypotheses (cf. Currie, 2023).
2 Coherence between facial expressions and subjective emotional experience in older adults
Several previous studies have examined either the production of facial expressions or subjective emotional experience in older adults and reported mixed findings (Supplementary Table 1). Specifically, a substantial number of studies showed no age-related differences in facial expression production (Emery and Hess, 2011; Kunz et al., 2008; Lohani and Isaacowitz, 2014; Malatesta et al., 1987; Nangle et al., 2018; Saito et al., 2022; Seider et al., 2011; Tsai et al., 2000; van Reekum et al., 2011), although some studies reported less intense (Kunzmann et al., 2017; Labuschagne et al., 2020; Levenson et al., 1991; Magai et al., 2006; Pedder et al., 2016; Rohr et al., 2017; Saito et al., 2023) or more intense (Magai et al., 2006; Malatesta-Magai et al., 1992; Phillips et al., 2008; Zempelin et al., 2021) facial expressions in older than young adults. Fölster et al. (2014) reviewed the literature and concluded that there are no age-related differences in spontaneous facial expressions. Likewise, studies have reported different results with respect to subjective emotional experience, including comparable (Emery and Hess, 2011; Kunz et al., 2008; Malatesta et al., 1987; Nangle et al., 2018; van Reekum et al., 2011), weaker (Kunzmann et al., 2017; Labuschagne et al., 2020; Levenson et al., 1991; Malatesta-Magai et al., 1992; Saito et al., 2022, 2023; Tsai et al., 2000), or stronger (Labuschagne et al., 2020; Lohani and Isaacowitz, 2014; Magai et al., 2006; Pedder et al., 2016; Phillips et al., 2008; Rohr et al., 2017; Saito et al., 2023; Seider et al., 2011; Zempelin et al., 2021) subjective emotional responses in older adults relative to young adults. In short, the data do not consistently suggest alteration in either facial expressions or subjective emotional experience in older adults. Furthermore, the studies were not specifically concerned with coherence between these emotional responses.
Few studies have compared the coherence of facial expressions with subjective emotional experience between older adults and their young counterparts (Lohani et al., 2018; Saito et al., 2022, 2023) according to our computer-based search of abstract and citation databases of the literature. In Lohani et al. (2018), the researchers presented film clips to induce sad feelings as emotion-eliciting stimuli and measured the dynamic ratings of arousal (i.e., the feeling of activation; Barrett, 2006) and facial EMG of the corrugator supercilii in older and young participants. The results showed no significant age differences in the correlations between the subjective ratings and facial EMG. However, the null finding may be at least partially explained by the ratings measured in the study. Previous studies testing young adults and reported subjective–facial emotional coherence reported the links between the ratings of valence, but not arousal, and facial expressions (Bradley and Lang, 2000).
In Saito et al. (2023), five film clips that were categorically labeled as anger, sadness, neutral, contentment, and amusement, were used, and the coherence between dynamic valence ratings and facial EMG of the corrugator supercilia and zygomatic major muscles was assessed by adopting the procedures used in a previous study that demonstrated emotional coherence in young adults (Sato et al., 2020). The researchers compared correlation coefficients between older and young adults and found that the negative correlation between valence ratings and corrugator EMG activity was weaker in older adults (Figure 1A). More specifically, lower valence ratings (i.e., greater unpleasantness) were associated with greater corrugator EMG activity, and the association between brow activity (i.e., frowning, which reflects unpleasant feelings) and unpleasant emotions was weaker in older adults than in young adults, indicating less emotional coherence between subjective experience and brow activity in the former group.
Figure 1. Mean (with standard error) intra-individual correlation coefficients between subjective valence ratings and facial electromyography (EMG) activity in young (black bars) and older (white bars) adults. (A) Valence–corrugator (i.e., brow lowering muscle) EMG correlation during emotional film viewing in Saito et al. (2023). (B) Valence–masseter (i.e., chewing muscle) EMG correlation during gel-type food consumption in Saito et al. (2022). Both studies showed significantly weaker subjective–facial emotional coherence in older than young adults.
Saito et al. (2022) used food to elicit emotions similarly showed age-related differences in the coherence between facial expressions and subjective experience. In that study, various subjective ratings and facial EMG activity of the corrugator supercilia, zygomatic major, masseter (i.e., chewing muscle), and suprahyoid (i.e., swallowing muscle) were assessed in older adults while they consumed the flavored gel-type foods. Compared with young adults, the coherence of valence and wanting ratings with masseter EMG activity was lower in older adults (Figure 1B).
Taken together, among three studies that tested this topic, the two recent ones (Saito et al., 2022, 2023) suggested that the degree of coherence between subjective experience, specifically its qualitative aspects, and the production of facial expressions in response to emotional stimuli (film clips and food) differs according to age, i.e., is weaker in older adults. As described above, weaker subjective–facial emotional coherence in older adults appears not to be explained by their impairments in subjective emotional experiences or the production of facial expressions.
3 Discussion
Given that the mind–body coherence and wellbeing are related (Brown et al., 2020; Mauss et al., 2011), and that older adults tend to report higher levels of wellbeing than people in other stages of life (Carstensen et al., 1999; Carstensen, 2006, 2021), why is it that the coherence between subjective experience and facial expressions is weak in older adults?
We hypothesize that the coherence between the subjective experience and facial expressions may weaken with age as an emotional coping. It has been reported that older adults are better able to cope with emotions (Burr et al., 2021; Charles and Carstensen, 2008; Eldesouky and English, 2018; Scheibe and Blanchard-Fields, 2009; Neubauer et al., 2019; Lohani and Isaacowitz, 2014; Sims et al., 2015; Shiota and Levenson, 2009; however, see Isaacowitz, 2022) and use more emotional coping than young adults (Puente-Martínez et al., 2021). For instance, older adults were more successful than younger adults in terms of both deploying attentional resources (Scheibe et al., 2015; Mikkelsen et al., 2021) and positive reappraisal (Lohani and Isaacowitz, 2014; Shiota and Levenson, 2009). It has also been demonstrated that, rather than implementing response-focused coping, older adults are likely to use antecedent emotional coping (i.e., situation selection) in their daily lives, which is assumed to contribute to their ability to cope with emotions (Sims et al., 2015). Interestingly, several studies have reported that a repressive emotional coping style (Weinberger et al., 1979), which can induce low mind–body coherence (Schwerdtfeger and Kohlmann, 2004) and is traditionally regarded as maladaptive coping (Schwartz, 1990), sometimes serves adaptive functions, such as promoting resilience following extremely aversive events (e.g., Coifman et al., 2007; for a review, see Bonanno, 2005). Likewise, it may be possible that low subjective–facial emotional coherence in older adults has adaptive benefits on their emotional wellbeing.
However, there are several limitations in our speculation. First, few studies have investigated the coherence between facial expressions and subjective emotions in older adults, and those that did used limited methodologies compared with studies that were not specifically concerned with coherence. Thus, future research is warranted to confirm the robustness of the findings. Second, even assuming that older adults have weak subjective–facial emotional coherence, different factors may account for their high levels of wellbeing. The empirical evidence is needed to test the relationship between the subjective–facial emotional coherence and wellbeing in older adults.
In conclusion, studies examining the degree of coherence between subjective experience and facial expressions have demonstrated that older adults showed less coherence of subjective experience with corrugator and masseter EMG activity in response to emotional stimuli (films and food). We speculate that the weak coherence between subjective experience and facial expressions may serve as an emotional coping that is seemingly functionally adaptive for people in late adulthood.
Author contributions
WS: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AS: Writing – original draft.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by funds from the Japan Science and Technology Agency Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (grant number JPMJCR17A5).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1417609/full#supplementary-material
References
Barrett, L. F. (2006). Valence is a basic building block of emotional life. J. Res. Pers. 40, 35–55. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.006
Bonanno, G. A. (2005). Resilience in the face of potential trauma. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 14, 135–138. doi: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00347.x
Bradley, M. M., and Lang, P. J. (2000). “Measuring emotion: behavior, feeling, and physiology,” in Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion, eds. R. D. Lane, and L. Nadel (New York: Oxford University Press), 242–276.
Brown, C. L., Van Doren, N., Ford, B. Q., Mauss, I. B., Sze, J. W., and Levenson, R. W. (2020). Coherence between subjective experience and physiology in emotion: individual differences and implications for well-being. Emotion 20, 818–829. doi: 10.1037/emo0000579
Burr, D. A., Castrellon, J. J., Zald, D. H., and Samanez-Larkin, G. R. (2021). Emotion dynamics across adulthood in everyday life: older adults are more emotionally stable and better at regulating desires. Emotion 21, 453–464. doi: 10.1037/emo0000734
Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science 312, 1913–1915. doi: 10.1126/science.1127488
Carstensen, L. L. (2021). Socioemotional selectivity theory: the role of perceived endings in human motivation. Gerontologist 61, 1188–1196. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab116
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., and Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously. A theory of socioemotional selectivity. Am. Psychol. 54, 165–181. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165
Charles, S. T. (2010). Strength and vulnerability integration: a model of emotional well-being across adulthood. Psychol. Bullet. 136, 1068–1091. doi: 10.1037/a0021232
Charles, S. T., and Carstensen, L. L. (2008). Unpleasant situations elicit different emotional responses in younger and older adults. Psychol. Aging 23, 495–504. doi: 10.1037/a0013284
Charles, S. T., and Piazza, J. R. (2023). Looking back, forging ahead: Fifteen years of Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI). Curr. Opin. Psychol. 55:101751. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101751
Coifman, K. G., Bonanno, G. A., Ray, R. D., and Gross, J. J. (2007). Does repressive coping promote resilience? Affective-autonomic response discrepancy during bereavement. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 92, 745–758. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.745
Eldesouky, L., and English, T. (2018). Another year older, another year wiser? Emotion regulation strategy selection and flexibility across adulthood. Psychol. Aging 33, 572–585. doi: 10.1037/pag0000251
Emery, L., and Hess, T. M. (2011). Cognitive consequences of expressive regulation in older adults. Psychol. Aging 26, 388–396. doi: 10.1037/a0020041
Evers, C., Hopp, H., Gross, J. J., Fischer, A. H., Manstead, A. S., and Mauss, I. B. (2014). Emotion response coherence: a dual-process perspective. Biol. Psychol. 98, 43–49. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.11.003
Finzi, E., and Rosenthal, N. E. (2016). Emotional proprioception: treatment of depression with afferent facial feedback. J. Psychiat. Res. 80, 93–96. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.06.009
Fölster, M., Hess, U., and Werheid, K. (2014). Facial age affects emotional expression decoding. Front. Psychol. 5:73441. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00030
Friedman, B. H. (2010). Feelings and the body: the Jamesian perspective on autonomic specificity of emotion. Biol. Psychol. 84, 383–393. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.10.006
Isaacowitz, D. M. (2022). What do we know about aging and emotion regulation?. Persp. Psychol. Sci. 17, 1541–1555. doi: 10.1177/17456916211059819
Keltner, D., and Kring, A. (1998). Emotion, social function, and psychopathology. Rev. General Psychol. 2, 320–342. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.320
Kunz, M., Mylius, V., Schepelmann, K., and Lautenbacher, S. (2008). Impact of age on the facial expression of pain. J. Psychosom. Res. 64, 311–318. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.09.010
Kunzmann, U., Rohr, M., Wieck, C., Kappes, C., and Wrosch, C. (2017). Speaking about feelings: further evidence for multidirectional age differences in anger and sadness. Psychol. Aging 32, 93–103. doi: 10.1037/pag0000142
Labuschagne, I., Pedder, D. J., Henry, J. D., Terrett, G., and Rendell, P. G. (2020). Age differences in emotion regulation and facial muscle reactivity to emotional films. Gerontology 66, 74–84. doi: 10.1159/000501584
Lang, P. J. (1994). The varieties of emotional experience: a meditation on James-Lange theory. Psychol. Rev. 101, 211–221. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.101.2.211
Levenson, R. W., Carstensen, L. L., Friesen, W. V., and Ekman, P. (1991). Emotion, physiology, and expression in old age. Psychol. Aging 6, 28–35. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.6.1.28
Lohani, M., and Isaacowitz, D. M. (2014). Age differences in managing response to sadness elicitors using attentional deployment, positive reappraisal and suppression. Cognit. Emot. 28, 678–697. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2013.853648
Lohani, M., Payne, B. R., and Isaacowitz, D. M. (2018). Emotional coherence in early and later adulthood during sadness reactivity and regulation. Emotion 18, 789–804. doi: 10.1037/emo0000345
Magai, C., Consedine, N. S., Krivoshekova, Y. S., Kudadjie-Gyamfi, E., and McPherson, R. (2006). Emotion experience and expression across the adult life span: insights from a multimodal assessment study. Psychol. Aging 21, 303–317. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.21.2.303
Malatesta, C. Z., Izard, C. E., Culver, C., and Nicolich, M. (1987). Emotion communication skills in young, middle-aged, and older women. Psychol. Aging 2, 193–203. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.2.2.193
Malatesta-Magai, C., Jonas, R., Shepard, B., and Culver, L. C. (1992). Type A behavior pattern and emotion expression in younger and older adults. Psychol. Aging 7, 551–561. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.7.4.551
Mauss, I. B., Levenson, R. W., McCarter, L., Wilhelm, F. H., and Gross, J. J. (2005). The tie that binds? Coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology. Emotion 5, 175–190. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.5.2.175
Mauss, I. B., Shallcross, A. J., Troy, A. S., John, O. P., Ferrer, E., Wilhelm, F. H., et al. (2011). Don't hide your happiness! Positive emotion dissociation, social connectedness, and psychological functioning. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 100, 738–748. doi: 10.1037/a0022410
Mikkelsen, M. B., Tramm, G., and O'Toole, M. S. (2021). Age-group differences in instructed emotion regulation effectiveness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol. Aging 36, 957–973. doi: 10.1037/pag0000627
Nangle, M. R., Bailey, P. E., Henry, J. D., Khlentzos, G. S., Varcin, K. J., and Whitton, A. E. (2018). Age invariance in rapid facial affective reactions to emotionally valenced stimuli. Quart. J. Exp. Psychol. 71, 1687–1697. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1345960
Neubauer, A. B., Smyth, J. M., and Sliwinski, M. J. (2019). Age differences in proactive coping with minor hassles in daily life. J. Gerontol.: Series B 74, 7–16. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby061
Pedder, D. J., Terrett, G., Bailey, P. E., Henry, J. D., Ruffman, T., and Rendell, P. G. (2016). Reduced facial reactivity as a contributor to preserved emotion regulation in older adults. Psychol. Aging 31, 114–125. doi: 10.1037/a0039985
Phillips, L. H., Henry, J. D., Hosie, J. A., and Milne, A. B. (2008). Effective regulation of the experience and expression of negative affect in old age. J. Gerontol. Series B, Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 63, 138–145. doi: 10.1093/geronb/63.3.P138
Puente-Martínez, A., Prizmic-Larsen, Z., Larsen, R. J., Ubillos-Landa, S., and Páez-Rovira, D. (2021). Age differences in emotion regulation during ongoing affective life: a naturalistic experience sampling study. Dev. Psychol. 57, 126–138. doi: 10.1037/dev0001138
Rohr, M. K., Wieck, C., and Kunzmann, U. (2017). Age differences in positive feelings and their expression. Psychol. Aging 32, 608–620. doi: 10.1037/pag0000200
Saito, A., Sato, W., Ikegami, A., Ishihara, S., Nakauma, M., Funami, T., et al. (2022). Subjective–physiological coherence during food consumption in older adults. Nutrients 14:4736. doi: 10.3390/nu14224736
Saito, A., Sato, W., and Yoshikawa, S. (2023). Altered emotional mind–body coherence in older adults. Emotion 24, 15–26. doi: 10.1037/emo0001249
Sato, W., and Kochiyama, T. (2022). Exploration of emotion dynamics sensing using trapezius EMG and fingertip temperature. Sensors 22:6553. doi: 10.3390/s22176553
Sato, W., Kochiyama, T., and Yoshikawa, S. (2020). Physiological correlates of subjective emotional valence and arousal dynamics while viewing films. Biol. Psychol. 157:107974. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107974
Sato, W., Murata, K., Uraoka, Y., Shibata, K., Yoshikawa, S., and Furuta, M. (2021). Emotional valence sensing using a wearable facial EMG device. Scient. Rep. 11:5757. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85163-z
Scheibe, S., and Blanchard-Fields, F. (2009). Effects of regulating emotions on cognitive performance: What is costly for young adults is not so costly for older adults. Psychol. Aging 24, 217–223. doi: 10.1037/a0013807
Scheibe, S., Sheppes, G., and Staudinger, U. M. (2015). Distract or reappraise? Age-related differences in emotion-regulation choice. Emotion 15, 677–681. doi: 10.1037/a0039246
Schwartz, G. E. (1990). “Psychobiology of repression and health: a systems approach,” in Repression and Dissociation: Implications for Personality Theory, Psychopathology, and Health, ed. J. L. Singer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 405–434.
Schwerdtfeger, A., and Kohlmann, C. W. (2004). “Repressive coping style and the significance of verbal-autonomic response dissociations,” in Defense Mechanisms: Theoretical, Research, and Clinical Perspectives, eds. U. Hentschel, G. Smith, J. G. Draguns, and W. Ehlers (Amsterdam: Elsevier), 239–278.
Seider, B. H., Shiota, M. N., Whalen, P., and Levenson, R. W. (2011). Greater sadness reactivity in late life. Soc. Cognit. Affect. Neurosci. 6, 186–194. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq069
Shiota, M. N., and Levenson, R. W. (2009). Effects of aging on experimentally instructed detached reappraisal, positive reappraisal, and emotional behavior suppression. Psychol. Aging 24, 890 −900. doi: 10.1037/a0017896
Sims, T., Hogan, C., and Carstensen, L. L. (2015). Selectivity as an emotion regulation strategy: Lessons from older adults. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 3, 80–84. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.02.012
Tsai, J. L., Levenson, R. W., and Carstensen, L. L. (2000). Autonomic, subjective, and expressive responses to emotional films in older and younger Chinese Americans and European Americans. Psychol. Aging 15, 684–693. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.15.4.684
van Reekum, C. M., Schaefer, S. M., Lapate, R. C., Norris, C. J., Greischar, L. L., and Davidson, R. J. (2011). Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information. Soc. Cognit. Affect. Neurosci. 6, 177–185. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq031
Weinberger, D. A., Schwartz, G. E., and Davidson, R. J. (1979). Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: psychometric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress. J. Abnormal Psychol. 88, 369–380. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.88.4.369
Keywords: facial expressions, subjective experience, mind-body coherence, older adults, emotional coping
Citation: Sato W and Saito A (2024) Weak subjective–facial coherence as a possible emotional coping in older adults. Front. Psychol. 15:1417609. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1417609
Received: 15 April 2024; Accepted: 19 August 2024;
Published: 04 September 2024.
Edited by:
Jin Narumoto, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, JapanReviewed by:
Markku Kilpeläinen, University of Helsinki, FinlandÁlvaro Ruiz-García, Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre, Spain
Copyright © 2024 Sato and Saito. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Wataru Sato, wataru.sato.ya@riken.jp