Testing the uniqueness of the embodied pathway in facial expression processing
Lively debated theoretical models posit that emotional face processing is attributable to an internal simulation mechanism engaging motor/somatosensory brain regions (embodied route). Contrasting solid evidence – particularly from studies in patients with congenital facial paralysis – challenges the need of simulation for emotional face processing, deeming as sufficient the coupling between visual and conceptual/linguistic systems (disembodied route). Key guiding concepts of the proposal are those of degeneracy and neuroplasticity, and, in light of these, we hypothesize that the embodied and disembodied routes coexist and are dissociable by virtue of some degree of specialization supported by recently revised models of face processing. The main objective of the project is to reveal the conditions that preferentially trigger the embodied route, thus highlighting the unique role it might have in the complex human functional architecture.
We use behavioral techniques in conjunction with high-density electroencephalography to study the processing of very subtle emotional expressions in both congenital (Moebius Syndrome) and acquired (e.g., Bell’s palsy) facial paralysis.