Facial electromyography (EMG) has been extensively explored for sensing emotions such as valence, arousal, and basic emotions. However, complex emotional states like happiness and psychological well-being, which reflect emotional traits, remain underexplored in EMG studies. While these complex emotions are traditionally assessed using tools like the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale, the present study examines the potential of EMG to measure these traits in elderly participants. Ten individuals completed abbreviated versions of these questionnaires, followed by EMG measurements (zygomaticus, orbicularis oculi, and corrugator) during emotional recall and expression tasks. The tasks involved rating happiness-related questions and recalling the feelings associated with those responses (Part 1) or recalling and actively expressing the feelings (Part 2). Main results revealed that participants with higher well-being and happiness scores demonstrated significantly stronger orbicularis oculi muscle activity during the recall and expression of feelings associated with happiness-related questions compared to those with lower scores. Furthermore, the combined EMG activity associated with positive emotions (zygomaticus + orbicularis oculi- corrugator) was significantly stronger in participants with higher happiness and well-being scores compared to those with lower scores. These findings suggest that facial EMG in general and orbicularis oculi activity in particular may serve as a biomarker for happiness and well-being traits during subjective emotional recall.

Authors:
Amel Achour-Benallegue, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Alvaro Costa Garcia, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Hiroyuki Umemura, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Amel Achour-Benallegue is a postdoctoral researcher at the Human Augmentation Research Center (AIST). She is interested in multidisciplinary research involving cognitive psychology, neuroscience, art & technology and philosophy.

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