Emotion and facial efference: a theory reclaimed.

A theory of emotional expression, ignored since 1906, holds that facial muscles act as ligatures on facial blood vessels and thereby regulate cerebral blood flow, which, in turn, influences subjective feeling. The theory, developed by Israel Waynbaum, a French physician, hypothesizes the subjective experience of emotions as following facial expression rather than preceding it. It answers Darwin's question of why different muscles contract or relax in different emotions better than Darwin's own theory. When restated in terms of contemporary neurophysiological knowledge, it explains and organizes several ill-understood emotional processes and phenomena.

[1]  J. J. Korten,et al.  Headache , 1893, Neurology.

[2]  S. Tomkins.  The positive affects , 1963 .

[3]  J. Lanzetta,et al.  Influence of facial expressions on the classical conditioning of fear. , 1980, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[4]  P. Ekman,et al.  Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. , 1983, Science.

[5]  G. H. Monrad‐Krohn,et al.  ON THE DISSOCIATION OF VOLUNTARY AND EMOTIONAL INNERVATION IN FACIAL PARESIS OF CENTRAL ORIGIN , 1924 .

[6]  J. Winn,et al.  Brain , 1878, The Lancet.

[7]  M. Stanton.  The encyclopædia of face and form reading , 2022 .

[8]  W. M. Dale.  Temperature, Its Measurement and Control in Science and Industry , 1963 .

[9]  A. Keren,et al.  Effect of Exercise on Cerebral Circulation , 1983, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[10]  J T McCall,et al.  Effect of stimulus on the chemical composition of human tears. , 1981, American journal of ophthalmology-glaucoma.

[11]  P. Gettner,et al.  Total calcium and Q-oTc determinations are not useful in the intensive care unit. , 1984, Pediatrics.

[12]  M. O’Brien,et al.  CEREBRAL BLOOD CHANGES IN MIGRAINE , 1971, Headache.

[13]  C. Darwin.  The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , .

[14]  J. Laird.  Self-attribution of emotion: the effects of expressive behavior on the quality of emotional experience. , 1974, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[15]  J. Stainer,et al.  The Emotions , 1922, Nature.

[16]  C. W. Hughes.  Emotion: Theory, Research and Experience , 1982 .

[17]  A. Meltzoff,et al.  Imitation of Facial and Manual Gestures by Human Neonates , 1977, Science.

[18]  R. Andrew,et al.  EVOLUTION OF FACIAL EXPRESSION. , 1963, Science.

[19]  I. Waynbaum,et al.  La physionomie humaine : son mécanisme et son rôle social , 1907 .

[20]  H. Thompson,et al.  Determination of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow by Inhalation of 133‐Xenon , 1967, Circulation research.

[21]  R. Robinson,et al.  A two‐year longitudinal study of post‐stroke mood disorders: findings during the initial evaluation. , 1983, Stroke.