Up- and down-regulating facial disgust: affective, vagal, sympathetic, and respiratory consequences
Abstract
Relative to watching in a natural manner, people asked to suppress or exaggerate their facial response to a negative emotional stimulus experience greater activation of the sympathetic nervous system but report a similar subjective emotional experience. The present research extends prior research on response modulation in two important ways. First, discrete indicators of cardiac vagal and sympathetic control (respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP), respectively) were included as dependent measures along with interbeat interval (IBI) and skin conductance (EDR). Second, to help generalize results across response-focused modulation techniques, participants suppressed, exaggerated, or exerted no control over their responses while watching a disgust-eliciting film (for control purposes, a fourth group was asked to watch a neutral film naturally). Response modulation was associated with significantly decreased PEP (increased cardiac sympathetic control) relative to those in the natural-watch conditions. All participants evidenced increased EDR while watching the disgusting clip, but facial modulation did not produce EDR reactivity beyond that of watching the disgusting film naturally. Exaggerators experienced decreased IBI during modulation (perhaps due to increased muscle contraction) whereas all other groups showed increased IBI (i.e., the orienting response). Neither emotional experience nor facial modulation reliably impacted RSA, respiration rate, or…
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Emotion suppression (the conscious inhibition of emotion-expressive behavior during an emotion episode) is associated with increased sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system relative to uninstructed responding.
“Previous research has shown that inhibiting emotion-expressive behavior (emotion suppression) leads to increased sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system (Gross & Levenson, 1993).”
From Cardiovascular costs of emotion suppression cross ethnic lines. (2008) · cites this paper as Demaree, et al., 2006
The paper's physiological findings are consistent with previous research showing that facial modulation of disgust is associated with increased cardiac sympathetic control but not with respiratory activation, electrodermal activation, or cardiac vagal control.
“Our physiological findings are consistent with previous research showing that facial modulation of disgust is associated with increased cardiac sympathetic control but not with respiratory activation, electrodermal activation, or cardiac vagal control (Demaree, et al., 2006).”
From Cardiovascular costs of emotion suppression cross ethnic lines. (2008) · cites this paper as Demaree, et al., 2006
Suppressing emotional facial behavior does not reduce negative emotional experience.
“consistent with previous findings that suppressing emotional facial behavior does not reduce negative emotional experience (Demaree, et al., 2006; Gross, 1998; Gross & Levenson, 1993, 1997).”
From Cardiovascular costs of emotion suppression cross ethnic lines. (2008) · cites this paper as Demaree, et al., 2006
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- Authors
- Demaree, H. A., Schmeichel, B. J., Robinson, J. L., Pu, J., Everhart, D. E., & Berntson, G. G.
- Affiliations
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- East Carolina University (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Demaree, Heath A.
- Venue
- Biological Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-01
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 90-99
- ISSN
- 0301-0511 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1994362964
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 3.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Emotion and Mood Recognition
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
- Keywords
- response modulation, cardiac vagal control, sympathetic nervous system, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, pre-ejection period, skin conductance, RR interval, respiration rate, emotional experience, orienting response, disgust
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Electrocardiography, Facial Expression, Female, Galvanic Skin Response, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Periodicity, Respiration, Sympathetic Nervous System, Vagus Nerve, Down-Regulation, Up-Regulation
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