Automatic behavioural responses to valence: Evidence that facial action is facilitated by evaluative processing Roland Neumann, Markus Hess, Stefan M. Schulz, and Georg W. Alpers University of Wu ¨rzburg, Germany Are motor schemata of facial action spontaneously activated upon the processing of evaluative information? In this case, the processing of positive evaluative information should immediately trigger the motor schema of smiling, and the processing of negative information should trigger frowning. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments in which participants were required to respond to positive and negative words by either smiling or frowning. Electromyogram (EMG) activity was recorded over the brow muscle region (corrugator supercilii) and over the cheek muscle region (zygomaticus major) in order to quantify the latency of muscular response as a dependent measure. In Experiment 1 we found that participants were faster at contracting their zygomaticus muscle (which is involved in smiling) when evaluating positive words, and faster at contracting their corrugator muscle (which is involved in frowning) when evaluating negative words. In Experiment 2, participants were required to respond with the contraction of one of the two muscles whenever a word appeared on the computer screen. Again, we found that responses were faster to congruent response valence com- binations than to incongruent response valence combinations. These findings support the hypothesis that evaluative processing is directly linked to motor schemata of facial muscles. Facial action can be conceived of as the interface through which people interact with their social environment. Since the seminal writings of Charles Darwin (1872/1965), facial action has been regarded as a response to both commu- nicative intent and evaluative processes underlying attitudes and emotions. Using a variety of methods, researchers have provided considerable evidence for Correspondence should be addressed to Roland Neumann, Lehrstuhl Psychologie II, Universita ¨t Wu ¨rzburg, Ro ¨ntgenring 10, 9707 Wu ¨ rzburg, Germany; e-mail: neumann@psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. We would like to thank Roland Deutsch, Jens Fo ¨rster, Thomas Dunlap, Michael Ha ¨fner, Thomas Mußweiler, Paul Pauli, Beate Seibt, Fritz Strack, and Lioba Werth for their helpful comments on this article. # 2005 Psychology Press Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/02699931.html DOI:10.1080/02699930441000364 COGNITION AND EMOTION 2005, 19 (4), 499–513