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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans
Published on: March 15, 2019
Fibromyalgia, facial expression and emotional experience
Anke Kirsch1, Kathrin Bernardy
1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Saarland University, Saarbrucken, Germany. a.kirsch@mx.uni-saarland.de
Background:
The present study aims at analyzing the nonverbal affective behavior of female fibromyalgia (FM) inpatients in comparison to healthy women.
Methods:
Videotaped psychodynamic interviews of each of 15 female FM inpatients and healthy women were analyzed. Afterwards the analyses of facial expression were related to gazing behavior and emotional experience.
Results:
FM patients exhibited neither a reduction in total activity of facial expression nor in absolute frequency of primary affects in comparison to healthy women, who, however, (also in eye contact) also exhibited a significantly higher proportion of 'genuine joy' and a lower one of 'contempt'. No congruence between the patient's emotional experience and affective expression was found.
Conclusions:
The absence of reduced total activity of facial expression is in contrast to the elaborate descriptions of complaints provided by the patients. Nevertheless, our detailed analysis shows a lack of elements that stabilize the relationship and the presence of dissociating elements in the interactions.
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