Research overview
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BackgroundHumans spontaneously mimic the facial expressions of others, facilitating social interaction. This mimicking behavior may be impaired in individuals with Parkinson's disease, for whom the loss of facial movements is a clinical feature.ObjectiveTo assess the presence of facial mimicry in patients with Parkinson's disease.MethodTwenty-seven non-depressed patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 28 age-matched controls had their facial muscles recorded with electromyography while they observed presentations of calm, happy, sad, angry, and fearful emotions.ResultsPatients exhibited reduced amplitude and delayed onset in the zygomaticus major muscle region (smiling response) following happy presentations (patients M = 0.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.15 to 0.18, controls M = 0.26, CI 0.14 to 0.37, ANOVA, effect size [ES] = 0.18, p ConclusionsPatients showed decreased mimicry overall, mimicking other peoples' frowns to some extent, but presenting with profoundly weakened and delayed smiles. These findings open a new avenue of inquiry into the "masked face" syndrome of PD.
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