Abstract
Shimamura et al. (2006) showed that a face of happy expression was remembered better than that of other expressions. In the present experiment, we examined the effect of observer’s facial activity elicited by subconscious facial expression mimicry in the happy face advantage. In the study phase, participants were shown faces with emotional expressions (happy, surprise, anger, fear) In the subsequent test phase, they had to determine the expressions that had been displayed at study phase. The participants’ expression mimicry was manipulated by having they hold chopsticks in their mouse in ways that facilitated the muscles typically associated with smiling during study and/or test phases. The results showed that recognition memory of faces of fearful expressions were interfered when the participants’ facial muscles was manipulated in the test phase, suggesting that observer’s facial feedback may play a important role in retrieval processes of face memory.
