The distinction between different facial emotions is crucial for interpersonal communication. Shared neural circuits for facial emotion production and perception are considered to facilitate the ability to understand other's emotional state via mirror neuron mechanisms. Little is known about how diverse emotions differentially activate the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) during facial expression processing. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task, 178 healthy subjects perceived and produced emotional (happy vs angry) and non-emotional (lip-protrusion vs no movement) facial expressions. Dynamic facial expressions were displayed as 5 sec video clips. We identified three overlapping networks of neural activation for happy, angry, and non-emotional (lip-protrusion) facial expression production and perception. Importantly, this overlap was largely due to the common motor component of facial expressions. However, for happy facial expressions, we found specific MNS activation in the right temporal pole. For angry facial expressions we found such activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, pars orbitalis, and the cerebellum (lobules VII and VIII). We extend knowledge on mirror neuron mechanisms as our results provide evidence for emotion specific shared neural activation for the production and perception of facial emotions. This emotion specific representation of other's emotion in one's own neural production system might facilitate understanding of other's mental or emotional states.

中文翻译：

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特定于情绪的神经激活，用于面部表情的产生和感知。

不同的面部表情之间的区别对于人际交流至关重要。面部情绪产生和感知的共享神经回路被认为有助于通过镜像神经元机制理解他人情绪状态的能力。人们对面部表情处理过程中多样化的情绪如何差异激活镜神经元系统（MNS）知之甚少。在功能磁共振成像（fMRI）任务中，178名健康受试者感知并产生了情绪性（高兴与愤怒）和非情绪性（嘴唇突出而不是运动）的表情。动态面部表情显示为5秒的视频剪辑。我们确定了三个重叠的神经激活网络，它们可以产生快乐，生气和非情绪化（嘴唇突出）的面部表情。重要的，这种重叠在很大程度上是由于面部表情的共同运动成分。但是，为了获得快乐的面部表情，我们在右颞极发现了特定的MNS激活。对于生气的面部表情，我们在左下额叶回，眶眶和小脑（小叶VII和VIII）中发现了这种激活。我们扩展了关于镜像神经元机制的知识，因为我们的结果为面部表情产生和感知的特定情感共享神经激活提供了证据。在自己的神经产生系统中，这种特定于他人情绪的情绪表示可能有助于理解他人的心理或情绪状态。对于生气的面部表情，我们在左下额叶回，眶眶和小脑（小叶VII和VIII）中发现了这种激活。我们扩展了关于镜像神经元机制的知识，因为我们的结果为面部表情的产生和感知提供了特定于情感的共享神经激活的证据。在自己的神经产生系统中，这种特定于他人情绪的情绪表示可能有助于理解他人的心理或情绪状态。对于生气的面部表情，我们在左下额叶回，眶眶和小脑（小叶VII和VIII）中发现了这种激活。我们扩展了关于镜像神经元机制的知识，因为我们的结果为面部表情产生和感知的特定情感共享神经激活提供了证据。在自己的神经产生系统中，这种特定于他人情绪的情绪表示可能有助于理解他人的心理或情绪状态。