When friends or family members approach us with good or bad news, we can empathize with them, put ourselves in their shoes, and feel what they are feeling. Some of this empathy is related with the ability to imitate the expressions of persons with whom we strive to empathise and understand.
Thus, a question arises: how is empathy with and understanding others affected when this mimicry is prevented?
A recent study at Hokkaido University by Naoyoshi Matsuda and Masaki O. Abe investigated the impact of imitation-inhibition training on the detection of emotional states in others. Their work, published in the journal Cognitive Studies: Bulletin of the Japanese Cognitive Science Society, shows that imitation-inhibition contributes to the ability to recognize others’ emotional states quickly and accurately.
“Imitation-inhibition training is a type of training that focuses on making people suppress automatic imitative tendencies. This training has been shown to enhance the ability to distinguish between oneself and others, as well as increase the ability to empathise. However, until our study, its effects on the speed and accuracy of the recognition of facial expressions in others had not been investigated,” said Abe, corresponding author of the study.
Nine women and 41 men were divided into two groups, one of which received imitation-inhibition training. This entailed placing their hand on a mouse and pressing both buttons simultaneously; when shown an image of the index finger raised, they had to elevate the middle finger, and vice versa.
We experimentally demonstrated that it is important to clearly distinguish between self and others’ situations and to understand others’ situations independently of one’s own situation in order to understand others and communicate with them.
Masaki O. Abe
The group without imitation-inhibition training (control training, right) had to lift their index finger when presented with the number 1 and the middle finger when presented with 2.
The Facial Expression Recognition (FER) test was then used to evaluate their speed and accuracy in recognising five different facial expressions: happiness, surprise, disgust, anger, and sadness.
Participants were forced to hold chopsticks in their mouths during this test, which hindered imitation of the expressions (restricted block). The limited block’s performance was compared to an unrestricted block in which the participants’ faces were not constrained.
“As in previous studies, the participants who had undergone imitation-inhibition training increased self-reported empathy,” explained Abe. “Interestingly, the group which did not have imitation-inhibition training was slower to identify the facial recognitions in the restricted block because of the interference of face mimicry. However, the group which had imitation-inhibition training did not have such a delay. It suggests that imitation-inhibition training allows for a similar level of recognition of others’ emotional states, regardless of discrepancies between the condition of self and others.”
The interpersonal reactivity index, a measure of empathy, increased in the training group but stayed unaltered in the control group, indicating that the training was the cause of the change.
Abe concluded, “We experimentally demonstrated that it is important to clearly distinguish between self and others’ situations and to understand others’ situations independently of one’s own situation in order to understand others and communicate with them.”
Future research will focus on the influence of imitation-inhibition training on other social cognitions such as understanding others’ intentions, as well as the effects not only on the behavioral but also on the brain levels.
