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Functionally distinct smiles elicit different physiological responses in an evaluative context.

ABSTRACT: When people are being evaluated, their whole body responds. Verbal feedback causes robust activation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. What about nonverbal evaluative feedback? Recent discoveries about the social functions of facial expression have documented three morphologically distinct smiles, which serve the functions of reinforcement, social smoothing, and social challenge. In the present study, participants saw instances of one of three smile types from an evaluator during a modified social stress test. We find evidence in support of the claim that functionally different smiles are sufficient to augment or dampen HPA axis activity. We also find that responses to the meanings of smiles as evaluative feedback are more differentiated in individuals with higher baseline high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), which is associated with facial expression recognition accuracy. The differentiation is especially evident in response to smiles that are more ambiguous in context. Findings suggest that facial expressions have deep physiological implications and that smiles regulate the social world in a highly nuanced fashion.

SUBMITTER: Martin JD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5832797 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functionally distinct smiles elicit different physiological responses in an evaluative context.

Martin Jared D JD Abercrombie Heather C HC Gilboa-Schechtman Eva E Niedenthal Paula M PM

Scientific reports 20180301 1

When people are being evaluated, their whole body responds. Verbal feedback causes robust activation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. What about nonverbal evaluative feedback? Recent discoveries about the social functions of facial expression have documented three morphologically distinct smiles, which serve the functions of reinforcement, social smoothing, and social challenge. In the present study, participants saw instances of one of three smile types from an evaluator during ...[more]

PMID: 29497068

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Project description:To test the hypothesis that dimethyl fumarate (DMF, Tecfidera) elicits different biological changes from DMF combined with monoethyl fumarate (MEF) (Fumaderm, a psoriasis therapy), we investigated DMF and MEF in rodents and cynomolgus monkeys. Possible translatability of findings was explored with lymphocyte counts from a retrospective cohort of patients with MS. In rodents, we evaluated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects induced by DMF and MEF monotherapies or in combination (DMF/MEF). Clinical implications were investigated in a retrospective, observational analysis of patients with MS treated with DMF/MEF (n = 36). In rodents and cynomolgus monkeys, monomethyl fumarate (MMF, the primary metabolite of DMF) exhibited higher brain penetration, whereas MEF was preferentially partitioned into the kidney. In mice, transcriptional profiling for DMF and MEF alone identified both common and distinct pharmacodynamic responses, with almost no overlap between DMF- and MEF-induced differentially expressed gene profiles in immune tissues. The nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2)-mediated oxidative stress response pathway was exclusively regulated by DMF, whereas apoptosis pathways were activated by MEF. DMF/MEF treatment demonstrated that DMF and MEF functionally interact to modify DMF- and MEF-specific responses in unpredictable ways. In patients with MS, DMF/MEF treatment led to early and pronounced suppression of lymphocytes, predominantly CD8+ T cells. In a multivariate regression analysis, the absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was associated with age at therapy start, baseline ALC, and DMF/MEF dosage but not with previous immunosuppressive medication and sex. Furthermore, the ALC increased in a small cohort of patients with MS (n = 6/7) after switching from DMF/MEF to DMF monotherapy. Fumaric acid esters exhibit different biodistribution and may elicit different biological responses; furthermore, pharmacodynamic effects of combinations differ unpredictably from monotherapy. The strong potential to induce lymphopenia in patients with MS may be a result of activation of apoptosis pathways by MEF compared with DMF.

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Functionally distinct smiles elicit different physiological responses in an evaluative context.

Publications

Functionally distinct smiles elicit different physiological responses in an evaluative context.

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